Starfleet Family Values
by MissCar
Summary: A married with kids Jim and Spock are forced to spend shore leave with family. They also force Nyota along for the ride. If your idea of a good vacation is no one ends up in the hospital, no one is arrested, and no one dies, you may understand what Jim, Spock, and Nyota are going through. S/K, M/U
1. Why can't I call grandpa, Shrek?

**Title:**Starfleet Family Values

This is the sequel to the story Blame It on the Spell Check. However, you do not need to read that to get this. This story is not in the same universe as my 10 signs stories. I am borrowing Spock's stepmom from those stories because it's really hard to find a decent female Vulcan name and I want to play with that character more. Other family relationships will be different.

**Summary:**All families have issues and a few skeletons in the closet. After being married for three years, Jim and Spock go to new Vulcan to visit Spock's father, stepmom, and half siblings during shore leave. They drag a pregnant Nyota along for the awkwardness. Things become complicated due to their three year old daughter who knows too much and asks the wrong questions. Things get worse when they receive a phone call from Iowa that forces Jim to go home to a place that was never home.

Rated T

**Pairings: Established S/K and pre M/U with allusions to past S/K/U, MS/U, SP/U, and S/U**

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters created by Gene Roddenberry and reinterpreted by J.J. Abrams. This story is for entertainment purposes only. It's my turn to play.

Due to a disability, I write these stories with the use of voice recognition software. So expect some very strange grammar mistakes. Feel free to kindly point out specific mistakes or volunteer your editing services in a PM.

A/N 6/11/12: Georgiana Spencer has graciously gone back and re-edited the earlier chapters. New versions of chapter 1 through 4 are currently up. More revised chapters will be posted as time permits. She also did the new artwork of Sunk for the cover.

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**Chapter one: Why Can't I Call Grandpa, Shrek?**

Why was Nyota spending her shore leave with her captain and his husband? Both men drove her absolutely crazy and she used to date one of them.

There were moments during the almost nine years that all three have been working together on Enterprise that she has wanted to strangle both of them. She tells herself over and over again it's inappropriate for her to strangle her captain or his first officer. Sometimes those fantasies were the only things that got her through the day.

One of the reasons why she was with the two men on New Vulcan for shore leave was little Amanda. Mandy had her daddy's ears and her other daddy's ability to make you do anything with that beautiful smile. That smile was more effective on her than anyone else, because she carried Amanda for nine months. Her little niece could talk her into anything.

Three weeks ago, when she told little Amanda that she was going to spend her shore leave on earth visiting her Stepmom Alexis, Amanda threw a fit. She refused to be separated from her favorite aunt and her new little brother and sister. She kept crying and she hated to see Mandy cry. For someone who is ¼ Vulcan, Amanda has no problem expressing her emotions whatsoever.

A few days before then she found out she was pregnant again, although this time it was not a planned pregnancy. Amanda was bioengineered to be a mixture of Jim and Spock. The two children that she was currently carrying will fall under the category of "the aliens made them do it." More accurately, this pregnancy was a diplomatic 'gift'. Around nine weeks ago after a successful mission that saved almost the entire inhabitants of a planet from destruction, the leaders decided to throw a celebratory dinner in her, Jim, and Spock's honor. The party involved high amounts of alcohol laced with very potent aphrodisiacs. Fortunately for everybody involved, Amanda was on the ship with her Uncle Bones.

So grateful for what they did they decided to give the three a gift. This gift involved all three being drugged with a very powerful aphrodisiac and special fertility drugs. Of course, nobody remembered what had happened until about six weeks later when she threw up on her captain's shoes.

She almost killed Bones when he gave her the news. She was absolutely shocked after she realized it was not a joke. She doesn't even remember sleeping with anybody since their last shore leave six months prior. When the DNA scan revealed that she was carrying twins that had a mixture of DNA between her, Jim and Spock, she fainted. Ever since Dr. McCoy has been trying to figure out what happen.

She tried not to think about that now as they continued walking to the house of Spock's father. Thanks to little Amanda's sweet little smile she was spending her vacation with two men who she loved but wanted to kill at times. Neither Jim nor Spock wanted to be away from the babies anyway. They also wanted her to be there when they told Sarek. (Even if these children had a little bit of her in it this time, she or he would still be Jim and Spock's child and she would be Aunt Nyota.)

This is how she found herself on New Vulcan being led by the hand of her favorite three year old as she listened to her captain and his first officer "argue" behind her.

"Why do we have to stay here?" Jim asked in a whiny voice that made him sound like Mandy when she didn't get her way.

"My father offered for us to stay here and it would be illogical for us to turn him down." He said, not making eye contact with his husband.

"You hate staying here. You find the fact that your father made an exact replica of your house on Vulcan disturbing. If you say that creepiness is an emotion you are sleeping on the couch for the duration of this vacation."

"Do not make empty threats T'hy'la."" He said as he gave Jim a Vulcan kiss when he realized nobody was looking.

"Auntie, why would sleeping on the couch be a punishment?" She absolutely loves the fact that this child can make even Spock uncomfortable. Instead of telling the three year old the truth, Spock decided to tell her that the couch hurts daddy Jim's back. Considering how much those two have sex, she considers it a small miracle that Amanda has not walked in on the two yet. She has on multiple occasions because they have a thing for conference room seven and supply closet number 69.

"I just don't want to have to spend more time with your father than absolutely necessary. I love your stepmom, but your dad still hates me and we have been bonded eight years and married for over three."

"My father does not hate you. Hate is an emotion. It would be illogical for him to feel such a thing." Spock said in his normal "I am superior to you" tone.

"I stopped believing the "Vulcans have no emotions" thing the moment you bet me over a"… She cuts him off with a well place smack on the shoulder. The best thing about being pregnant again was she regained her ability to smack her captain when he was being a complete idiot.

"Not in front of the toddler." She said with a hiss.

"I am not a toddler. I am three years old. I already know about what happened the day Grandma Amanda died. Uncle Bones told me. Daddy Spock tried to kill other daddy because he couldn't process his emotions regarding grandma's death." Amanda said, smiling at all three of them.

"I know he's one of my best friends, but sometimes I have the desire to kill him." Jim said with a sigh.

"Daddy you can't kill Uncle Bones, otherwise I will have no one to have tea parties with on Tuesdays." She was trying really hard not to laugh as Amanda said this.

"I wasn't literally going to kill him, baby. I was just going to punish him. Maybe if you have an extra tea party with him I won't need to. Do you make him wear the hat that Nana Alexis sent you when you play?"

Although she was Aunt Nyota, little Amanda considered her stepmom to be her grandmother. This was because although Spock stepmother T'Pay was a wonderful person by Vulcan standards, Jim's mom was a bitch who always loved Sam more. They were planning on visiting her stepmom and father on earth after this to tell them in person about the babies. They were not planning on going anywhere near Iowa.

"Of course, I make him wear the hat daddy. It's not a tea party unless you wear the hat." On days when they drive her absolutely crazy she pulls up the image of Spock or Jim wearing that hat at one of little Amanda's tea parties and she feels so much better.

"If you get daddy a picture of him wearing the hat, I promise not to hurt your favorite tea party friend."

"Okay daddy. That's good because he promised to finish telling me the real story about how you met daddy Spock. Did you really cheat on a test?" Jim said something about cheating being subjective and then quickly asked her what else her Uncle Bones has been telling her.

"He told me I had to call grandpa by a special nickname."

"What would that nicknamed be?" Spock asked his daughter.

"He said I should call him Shrek but only when daddy Jim was around." When she said the name Spock had the Vulcan equivalent of a petrified expression on his face. Then he gave Jim the Spock death glare.

"You can't call grandpa that." She said correcting the child.

"That's what the wedding invitations said. Uncle Bones showed me." Mandy said in a way that only a three year old could.

"No one's ever going to forgive me for that. It wasn't my fault."

"If I did not forgive you, we would not be married. Being unforgiving is illogical. Unfortunately, certain other ambassadors still refer to him as Ambassador Shrek of New Vulcan when negotiations go badly. "

"It's okay because he is tall and green. Although Uncle Bones says that Shrek in the films is nicer. Daddy said the same thing one time when we were watching old movies." This gets Jim a raised eyebrow.

Fortunately for all parties involved the front door opened and Amanda ran to her grandma T'Pay. Because she spent several years on earth as a college professor, T'Pay was perfectly OK with her granddaughter hugging her. Unfortunately Spock's father was not.

"I thought you told her that Vulcans do not hug." She heard Jim whisper to Spock.

"Yes, but she said such a statement was illogical because I hug her all the time."

After Amanda let go of her grandfather she asked him a question, "Grandfather why can't I call you Shrek, when Uncle Bones said I could?"

Sarek gave Jim a glare by Vulcan standards that told her this is going to be a very long family vacation. Is it wrong to hope for a crisis so that this shore leave could end earlier?


	2. Why Did I Say That?

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the first chapter.

A/N 6/11/2012: Thank you to Georgiana Spencer for being the beta on the new version of this chapter

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**Pairings: Established S/K, pre-U/B with allusions to past S/K/U, S/U, SP/U and S/MS**

**Chapter Two: Why Did I Say That?**

Spock has never had a good relationship with his father. He always wanted something from him he could never give Spock – his unconditional acceptance. Growing up he could never be Vulcan enough to please his father no matter how hard he tried.

Their rift grew more when Spock chose to enter Starfleet instead of taking a position at the Vulcan Science Academy. Spock refused to be part of an organization that believed him to be inferior because of his genetic makeup. He wanted to be judged by the content of his character, not his DNA profile. They spent close to a decade not speaking to each other because of that. In the grand scheme of things, that behavior seems illogical now.

After the death of his mother and the destruction of Vulcan, they started speaking to each other again. It seemed illogical to hold a grudge with almost everything else gone. Yet, their relationship was still strained at best.

His father's continued disappointment in him for staying in Starfleet instead of going to the colony to assist in rebuilding the population made things difficult. After his conversation with his other self, he believed he could do more for his people by staying in Starfleet. He could just as easily assist in the repopulation efforts from Enterprise with the use of modern technology. This is why they had Amanda so early. Sarek did not see it that way.

Another major problem in their relationship was he still resented his father for lying to him as a child and making him believe that he was only with his mother because it was logical. Because of that fallacy he followed his example when he started dating Nyota after T'Pring agreed to end their arranged engagement once he "discovered" she was otherwise involved with someone else.

Nyota was highly intelligent, aesthetically pleasing, and could stimulate him intellectually, as well as, physically. She was the logical choice for a partner except he did not love her as a lover. He assumed his lack of love was normal. If his father did not love his mother then it was acceptable that he did not love Nyota. If Vulcans do not love, it was perfectly acceptable that he did not feel anything like that for her. Yet despite the lie, his father did love his mother.

Everything changed the moment he met a cocky cadet who he wanted to strangle on-site. No one had ever triggered an emotional response from him like that before. Before Jim, he could easily push emotions away. (Except for those incidents with his peers as a child.) Such a thing is impossible with Jim.

He was already aware of how things could be between him and Jim before his counterpart told him that he and Jim would have a friendship that would define the rest of their lives. He could pick up his other self's inflection on the word "friend". He already knew friendship can mean something more, yet he kept going through the motions of his relationship with Nyota.

She was aware of what was going on before he ever was. Reflecting upon it now, it amazed him how easy it was for him to stay in a state of perpetual denial. 2.6 weeks before their first shore leave, she walked up to him and asked him if he actually saw a future with her. When he could not answer her, she asked if they could be friends. It was another six months before anything happen between him and Jim.

Jim was another "sore" point in his relationship with his father, if Vulcans had such things. Contrary to what his husband believes, Sarek does not hate him. Although hate is an emotion, he knows that other Vulcans do feel such things. A childhood of being tortured by his peers just because he was part human taught him that Vulcans do hate.

Before he told his father of his relationship with Jim, he was quite complementary of Jim's leadership skills and command ability. His father does not hate Jim; he just simply wished his son married someone else. More precisely, he wished Spock married someone who was Vulcan. He wanted Spock on New Vulcan married to some Vulcan so that they could have as many 75% Vulcan children as possible.

There were several fallacies in his father's logic. First, multiple fertility test have proved that he could not produce offspring the traditional way with a Vulcan female. (Apparently, such a thing was possible with a human female. Not that he or his husband remember the exact circumstances surrounding the conception of their new son and daughter with his ex.)

He would not be comfortable here anyway. He has been on New Vulcan less than a day and he has been insulted for his human heritage multiple times by those holding on to the old attitudes. Aboard the Enterprise and in Starfleet he was free to be himself. He was seen as Commander Spock not Spock that half-human boy. Here he would be forced to live by ideas that he did not always agree with. He refused to raise any child of his in such a close-minded environment.

There was also the fact that such a statement from his father was completely hypocritical. When he pointed this out to his father, Sarek argue that the situation was different. The entire species was not on the brink of extinction when Sarek married Amanda. The continuation of the Vulcan species was more important than things like love.

Spock personally felt that the repopulation efforts were going fine without him being on planet. Nearly nine years after the destruction of Vulcan, the Vulcan population stands currently at 532,342 from an initial number of 129,274. Although only 10,000 were evacuated from the planet before implosion, there were a vast number of Vulcans living off planet, as well as, those that just happened to be "lucky" enough to be on vacation at the time of the destruction.

His father's new wife was one of those who lived off planet. She was teaching Vulcan studies at Oxford on earth at the time. His father did not love T'Pay. It made it easier for him to accept this new person in his family because of that. They were two old acquaintances who came together for the betterment of the species and for the purposes of self-preservation. So far they have had two children together, one of which was two years younger than Amanda.

It was not unusual for Vulcans to have siblings or half siblings that were significantly younger or older than they were. With a life expectancy of over two centuries, such things were common. It was even more common currently because many who were done having children chose to have more children to help rebuild the population. Yet the human part of him found it disconcerting that he was old enough to be his brother's and sister's father.

His half-sister T'Mandy was 5.1 years old and the epitome of proper Vulcan decorum despite her mother's influence. The last time he saw her was right before Enterprise left on its latest long-term mission 21.2 months ago. T'Pay was only a month pregnant with Sonnick at the time. During that time, they were station on earth for 1.5 years teaching at the academy in San Francisco as Enterprise was undergoing major renovations and improvements. They planned for Amanda to be born during this time so they could get used to being fathers before they went back into space.

It was hard to get out of an unwanted family visit when his father was on the same planet lobbying for increased support of the New Vulcan colony. For the last 21.2 months, he has successfully managed to avoid visiting his father and half siblings. He was not even planning to visit this time. They were originally going to take shore leave on earth visiting the oldest amusement park on the planet, Cedar Point, along with several other tourist destinations.

Yet somehow, his stepmother managed to convince his husband that it would be good for Spock to spend time with his brother and sister. It took Jim exactly 3.6 days and various private time activities to get Spock to agree to come. His T'hy'la probably would not have gone through all this effort if he knew they would be staying in his father's house.

He met his little half-brother for the first time 2.3 hours ago. He was still at a stage where he was okay with being hugged and touched, which Amanda took full advantage of. (One thing he regretted about raising their daughter in space was she did not get to be around other children that often.)

That openness may be T'Pay's influence. Jim refers to his stepmother as a "reformed Vulcan" because she only follows the teachings of Surak that still allow her to crack a smile every now and then.

Unfortunately, their wretched nanny was another story. He remembered T'Palm from his early years for her constant teasing of him. This afternoon she made some snide comment in Vulcan about Jim making smiley faces at the baby. She also made snide comments by Vulcan standards about Amanda's non-Vulcan name, Spock's human heritage, and the fact that Jim kissed him in her presence.

If it was not for Vulcan superior reflexes she would have fell over when Jim replied to her in perfect Vulcan that it was not nice to talk about an individual as if they were not in the room. He then proceeded to have a conversation with Spock in perfect Vulcan regarding their itinerary for the rest of the day and what he would like to do to Spock once Amanda was asleep for the night. At some point during this conversation Jim also refer to T'Palm by several expletives in multiple languages. Fortunately, Nyota removes all vulnerable listeners from the room by this point.

(Ever since Amanda was born, Jim has switched to cursing in other languages or at least he did until Amanda referred to a diplomat on their last mission by a vulgar Klingon word that translates in standard as dishonorable man who has sex with his mother. Their daughter had an unnatural ability to pick up new languages. He blames her favorite "aunt" and nine months of listening to the various transmissions that she was working on during the pregnancy.)

After the incident with the nanny, his father asked him to accompany him to pick up T'Mandy as Jim continued unpacking. Spock knew this was an excuse. His father never picked him up from school unless he was involved in an altercation with his peers. He was always too busy for such things. It was even more obvious that this was an excuse when his father suggested that they walk instead of taking the transport that would get them there in less than 4 minutes.

He was sure his father had a number of things he wanted to speak with him about other than his granddaughter referring to him by the name of an earth cartoon character. On the rare occasions when they were able to have a real time chat, his father would make some very "logical" comment criticizing Spock about not being on the colony or doing his part for his people.

Before the wedding, he would make some comment about Spock being involved with that human. After Amanda was born, he would criticize Spock in a very Vulcan way about Spock and his husband's decision to raise Amanda as their child and not as a Vulcan child. He is sure that if they gave Amanda any other human name his father would be upset about that as well.

Yes, his daughter would be familiar with the teachings of Surak and would learn proper meditation techniques when the time came. However, she was taught it was okay to express herself and being different was perfectly acceptable.

At some point during any conversation, he would bring up how important it was for Amanda to be around other Vulcan children. He would argue that she would be losing part of her heritage by growing up on a starship. He personally did not want to be around people who judged his child solely by her genetic makeup. Yet his father was still trying to convince Spock to relocate to the colonies with Amanda.

Spock knew his father would not start such a conversation if his daughter was present. He would be too distracted by her asking questions to speak to him about anything else.

At least the walk gave him time to assess the progress of the rebuilding work. His father lived in one of the two main cities that made up the colony. After nearly nine years, the place looked like almost any other major city except for its newness and the fact that 83.6% of the Vulcan population of 192,235 was under the age of eight.

During the 20-minute walk to the school, his daughter asked the following questions as expected:

"Grandfather, why is New Vulcan so hot?"

"Why is he wearing a dress?"

"Why did daddy get upset when Sonnick's nanny said that my name was unVulcan? What does unVulcan mean in this context? "

"Grandpa, why did she call daddy a half breed? What did she mean by that? Neither one of my daddies will tell me."

"Daddy, why did she look at you funny when you kissed other Daddy on the mouth?"

"Why did Aunt Ny drag me and Uncle Sonnick out of the room when Daddy started yelling at the woman in Klingon?" He personally wanted to comment on the absurdity of his daughter referring to anyone as uncle who was two years younger than she was, but he held his tongue.

Although the question that caused the most Discussion was the following, "Why does Daddy think you hate him?" The question actually caused Sarek to raise both eyebrows.

"Which father are you referring to?" Sarek asked calmly in a neutral voice as he stared directly at him.

"Daddy Jim thinks you hate him because he accidentally spelled your name wrong on the wedding invitation and all the other diplomats were mean to you because of that. That's what he told me earlier today when he explain why I couldn't call you the same name as my favorite cartoon character. Although last week I heard him tell Uncle Bones you hate him because he doesn't have Vulcan girl parts." He could see his father react slightly every time Amanda used a contraction.

"Did your father actually say that to Dr. McCoy?" He asked his daughter.

"No he used that C word in standard that I'm not allowed to repeat." He was sure his father knew exactly what C word his daughter was referring to. It was time again to remind Jim about their daughter's extremely efficient hearing abilities.

"I do not hate your father, Jim. Hate is an emotion and therefore it is illogical for me to feel such a thing in regards to anyone." He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at his father's comment because they were in public.

"That's not true. Daddy Spock said Vulcans are really good at hating people. When he was my age, all the kids at school made fun of him because grandma was human. That's why Daddy doesn't want moved back to the colony. He's afraid other kids will make fun of me because I have a human Daddy." At that comment, he wished he left his daughter with Jim.

Once they arrived at the school, his daughter stopped asking questions and started looking for playground equipment. She was quite disappointed when her grandfather told her that Vulcan schools did not have playgrounds because Vulcan children did not play.

"Grandfather, that's illogical. Daddy is a Vulcan. He plays tea party with me all the time. I am of Vulcan ancestry and I play all the time. You can't expect an entire species to be the same. That is not logical. Aunt Ny says that being different is a good thing." He wished he understood that concept when he was three. He was expecting his father to argue with her. Instead, he just said that her logic was sound.

On the way back to his father's house he was able to avoid any more awkward conversations by speaking with his sister about her day at school. He will have to reflect upon the fact that it was easier for him to converse with his five year old sister that refer to him as her human brother than his father.

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Less than 4 hours on the planet and he was already regretting his decision of "suggesting" Spock visit his father, stepmom, and siblings. Although Spock never had the best relationship with his father, it was still better than Jim's relationship with anybody in his family. The only person Jim was still on speaking terms with from his family was his former sister in law, his nephews, and stepfather number three. Things with his mom have always been bad. His mom did not come to the wedding nor has she seen her granddaughter yet. Not even during the year they were on earth. That was fine with him.

Lately she's been calling a lot, but it's too late. He's been avoiding communications from his mom and stepfather number four for months. The fact that by visiting Spock's family they would not have time to go to Iowa was the best part about coming here.

He felt it would be good for Spock to spend some time with his siblings and his father. Spock's little sister absolutely loved Jim. Actually, Jim was almost positive she had a crush on him but never said anything to his husband about it. Five-year-old girls did stuff like that, so he was not concerned.

Jim also enjoyed spending time with Spock stepmother T'Pay. She was cool for a Vulcan and got all his jokes. (She must be cool to be okay with her husband naming their daughter after his dead wife.)

He first met the woman 4.5 years ago when she accompanied her husband to negotiations on the planet Babble when the Enterprise was serving as transport for the negotiations. They brought T'Mandy along so that Spock could meet his little sister for the first time. He also knew that Spock would want to meet Sonnick, even if he argued otherwise. Because they have been in deep space, they have not had an opportunity to see him until now.

Of course, Jim forgot that coming to new Vulcan meant that he would have to spend time with Spock's father. The man has been giving him the eyebrows of doom since Amanda asked her **Shrek** question. At least he was still cordial. The nanny and his personal assistant were downright nasty to him and Mandy. They assumed he was too stupid to have a complete grasp of the Vulcan language. At almost 34 years of age and nearly nine years as a captain, most individuals still underestimated his intelligence. That was mostly his fault.

Currently, he could hear his third favored Vulcan, behind his Spock and other Spock, yelling in a very unVulcan way at the nanny in the other room as he and Nyota waited patiently to have afternoon tea. (He really did not see his daughter as a Vulcan but rather just his daughter.)

"I apologize for T'Palm's illogical behavior." She said as she grabbed the tea service that was already prepared and placed it on the table. "Apparently bigotry is not something that can be meditated away. Some people have not adjusted to the new reality. I would fire her right now, but with the majority of the population under age eight it would be impossible to find a replacement before we have to leave next week for several meetings. Sarek has off planet plans and I have my stint as a lecturer at several universities on Earth on the rebuilding efforts. I am actually going to be at the University of Iowa next week." He actually tensed up when she said Iowa.

"I don't know if I would want someone like that around my children, even if I had no choice. Not that I would ever have children, because it's not my thing. Can you imagine the type of things that she is teaching your children when you're not around, if this is what she says in front of you?" Nyota asked as she purposely grabbed the one drink that did not contain caffeine.

Her statement bothered him. She was still in denial about this pregnancy. She accepted that she was pregnant and acted accordingly. She was perfectly OK with being confined to the ship for the next seven months.

Yet, she was in denial about becoming a mom or even wanting to be a mom. She was acting exactly the same way she did when she was pregnant with Amanda and that was the problem. Amanda was not her child (biologically) and these two babies are hers despite their suspicious beginnings. She was acting like a surrogate mother again.

"Are you sure about that? You are great with Mandy. I am well aware of that possibility. Unfortunately, I do not have any other options right now."

"I don't know why. They are both great children. We loved having T'Mandy with us." He said referring to the three weeks a few years ago when they kept a very young T'Mandy when his father in law was going through an unspecified medical emergency. Unfortunately, T'Pay misinterpreted what he said.

"That is a logical proposal. T'Mandy and the baby can stay with the three of you on earth during the conference. It will enhance her education to see something of the planet besides the lobby of the hotel. I will take care of the problem with T'Palm now." She said as she left the room.

"Did I just promise to spend our time on earth with two more screaming children?" He said as soon as she was gone.

"Of course not. Vulcan children do not scream. I cannot wait to hear you explain this to your husband. At least Amanda will have someone to play with."

"You forget Vulcan children do not play. I'm not going to have sex once this entire vacation, am I?"

"Probably not."


	3. Avoidance is Not Just a Vulcan Thing

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I would also like to thank everyone who has added this story to your favorites or alerts.

**Warnings:** sexual dialogue, allusions to past S/K/U

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**Chapter Three: Avoidance is Not Just a Vulcan Thing.**

**9.4 Weeks Earlier**

It was a long mission that she was positive only Jim Kirk could pull off. They saved the entire inhabitants of Trie-Alpha-omega from being killed off by a mysterious synthetic virus. This virus not only affected the people, but also the land, all of the livestock, and a majority of the plant life. After several days, the science department was able to synthesize an anecdote to the virus. The worse was over now. The leaders of the government just beamed aboard to express their gratitude and to talk about the second stage of the process. Now that the virus is under control, how do they recover?

She was escorting Secretary Don'mara, the Secretary of Agriculture for the planet, to the main conference room when an over enthusiastic Amanda literally ran into her.

"What are you doing out here running around the ship? You're supposed to be in class right now with Ensign Cheng." Even at three years old, Amanda was already in school. Being the daughter of two geniuses, one of which had a photographic memory, that meant Amanda was highly intelligent and would soak up all knowledge like a sponge. Instead of having a baby sitter, it made more sense for her to work with a tutor. It worked out because Ensign Cheng was a schoolteacher before enlisting in Starfleet nine years ago after the destruction of Vulcan. If Amanda were on earth, she would technically be a second grader judging by her curriculum. Her grasp of languages was also remarkable. They spent at least an hour every day going over new languages. That was her favorite time with her niece. It was just the two of them.

"But I don't like her. She doesn't let me skip around like you or daddy does. You let me do the fun stuff. Can I stay with you?" She already had her daddy Jim's pout down perfectly. Those eyes didn't help.

"I'm sorry that's not possible baby. I have to escort the nice lady here to meet your dad Jim and your dad Spock for a meeting that I will be taking part of." She said picking Amanda up.

"That's not fair. I want to go with you." Amanda said using the signature Kirk pout again. "Can I go with you?" There is no way Amanda could come with her. They would be discussing things like what to do with the tens of thousands who succumb to the virus before an antidote could be created or how to keep a famine from occurring. They would be viewing pictures of remains and other things that a three year old, no matter how intelligent, should not see. She didn't want to be there either but her captain needed her to be there.

"I'm sorry it's not that kind of meeting. You know your daddy doesn't let you go to those things anyway. If you will be good for Ensign Cheng for the next hour, I will play with you after the meeting is over."

"Can we play Barbies?" To make her more comfortable with all the different species that they will meet on their mission, the three of them recently invested in the Barbies of the Universe collection. Amanda currently had dolls from 25 different cultures including dolls of Orion, Betazoid, and Vulcan ancestry. Although the clothing and accessories were truly accurate, Spock made a point of letting Amanda know that none of the dolls were anatomically correct. Nyota couldn't stop laughing that one time when Jim and Spock had a fight over when they should tell Amanda what the boy parts of Snek of New Vulcan should really look like.

When they played with the dolls, she would speak in the language of where the doll originated from. It was a fun way for Amanda to pick up a new language and learn about other cultures.

"I promise I'll play Barbies with you later." She said as she walked Amanda back to her quarters where her tutoring session was taking place. She kissed Amanda on the forehead before she gave her over to Ensign Cheng, who was already angry and frustrated.

"I'm sorry about the detour. Amanda has a tendency to run away from her tutor to go look for her parents." Uhura said in apology to the Secretary.

"That is understandable Lt. Commander Uhura. She is your daughter. We were not aware that Starfleet allowed children to live on ships. We're happy to see that the Federation truly does value family life."

"Amanda is the test case. The Admirals love her, so she probably will not be alone for long. She is Captain Kirk and Commander Spock's daughter, not mine even if I'm the one with the stretch marks. I'm just her favorite aunt."

"You are the one who gave birth to her. You are the only woman in her life besides her tutor who means nothing to her. You love her as any mother does. Secretly you wish she were yours. When she was just a year old she called you mom and you started to cry." She stared at the woman in shock not knowing how she would know all this. She never told anyone that. Not even Jim or Spock knew that when Amanda was a baby she called her mom. It took her three months to teach Amanda not to call her that and it was the most painful thing she ever did.

"How do you know that?" She asked in surprise.

"Some of our people have been given a special gift to see beyond what the face presents to us. Some of us are able to see the inner heart that hides our true desires. I am one of those that had been blessed with such a gift. You have a wonderful inner heart and therefore should be blessed with what you desire the most." She did not have time to respond because they arrived at the conference room with the meeting already in progress.

* * *

**The Present**

"How are you doing there? Are you having any problems adjusting to the atmosphere?" She heard Dr. McCoy ask on the screen from his daughter's apartment. He wanted her checking in everyday even though they were both on vacation. This was the first pregnancy of this nature in Federation history and they were worried.

"Relatively okay. The drugs have kicked in, so the atmosphere is not a problem. I have not thrown up on anybody's shoes yet. That is a good thing, because we haven't told Sarek yet. I'm not as sick as I was with Amanda, but I'm a lot more tired." So tired that the last week on the ship her shifts were divided in half so she could take a nap in between.

"These babies are probably going to be a bit better behaved since they have a little bit of your DNA in them to balance their daddies' out." She didn't say anything about that. She was trying very hard to pretend that the babies she was carrying were just Jim and Spock's children. She can admit to herself that she lied to T'Pay earlier. After Amanda was born, a tiny part of her wanted to be a mom even if she had no desire whatsoever to ever be married.

"Have you sent your scans to me yet?" While they were on vacation there were supposed to take readings of each fetus and send them to the doctor for analysis.

"I will have Spock do everything tonight after we come back from dinner with the family. Have you heard anything back from the doctors on Trie-Alpha-omega?" The week before they left Enterprise, the doctor contacted the planet to see if the doctors would provide more details about what happened that night to cause her to be pregnant. Even though she knew better, she was hoping these babies were created in a lab and not a bedroom.

"I was finally able to get confirmation on how you got pregnant. As you know, Polyandry is very common on the matriarchal planet. Many centuries ago, they develop fertility drugs that allowed a child to be created "naturally" with genetic material from three individuals." When the doctor said naturally, her entire body went rigid. "I don't know if there are any side effects on humans because the leaders will not provide a sample of the compound for analysis." He then went on to tell her what else he found out but she was too shocked to let him continue.

"So what you're saying is I accidentally had sex with my ex-boyfriend and his husband after I was drugged with mysterious fertility drugs that caused me to get pregnant by both of them?" She asked the doctor with a touch of anger.

She shouldn't be surprised. She did wake up in the same room as the couple the morning that these two babies were created. At the time, she didn't think anything happen because she was sleeping on the couch. It was not the first time she slept on their couch. Although usually Amanda was snuggled next to her and historical, Disney movies were involved. She didn't notice the bruises or the soreness in certain areas until later.

"Most likely yes. We'll never know for sure until one of the three of you regains your memories of what exactly happened. However, from what I've been told this child was conceived the old fashioned way."

"That's what I was afraid of." She said with a sigh as she sat back down on the bed.

"Why are you so upset about the possibility that you slept with Jim and Spock? It wouldn't be the first time that…"

"If they were able to create a drug like that why were their scientists not able to deal with the virus?" She asked cutting the doctor off before he could finish that sentence. She was not going to talk about her personal life with Bones right now. There was no way she would talk about the only other time she slept with Jim and Spock before the incident that got her pregnant, even if the doctor already knew about it. The only reason why the doctor knew about it was Jim had an allergic reaction to the new brand of lube they used.

There were mitigating circumstances anyway and the whole incident technically occurred before Jim and Spock were married by human standards. She was completely wasted at the time due to a breakup that was so nasty that it made her decide that she didn't want to ever get married. Was it her fault her boyfriend was more in love with the ship than her?

She may have been so wasted at the time that she may have jumped her captain and his boyfriend when Spock was being a good friend by getting her through the break up with a junk food marathon involving alcohol supplied by Jim. Some people ate copious amounts of ice cream with their friends after a nasty breakup. She had very hot revenge sex with her two friends. There was no way she was going to talk about that incident with the good doctor.

In all fairness, chocolate ice cream may have been the blame for Spock's participation in the entire thing. In addition, when Spock broke up with T'Pring she may had have convinced him that sleeping with your friends was a perfectly normal human breakup ritual. That lie was how she ended up dating Spock back at the academy. A sexually adventurous Jim Kirk just went along with the whole thing because even though he absolutely loves Spock, there's no way he will ever turn down a chance to be involved in a threesome with Spock.

"It's hard to create a cure when you're coughing up purple blood." Apparently, he was willing to let her out of that particular conversation.

"Good point."

"How's everything going along with the in-laws?"

"There not my in-laws, which I am grateful for. Mandy said something inappropriate before we even made it in the house. Because of that, Jim is positive he won't be getting laid again until after shore leave is over with, even if they freaked out the nanny by making out human style. Oh wait, that was your fault. You're the one who told her to call her grandfather by the name of a cartoon character." She said that last part angrily.

"I was just having a little harmless fun." The doctor said with a laugh.

"I don't know how harmless it was. Sarek has been giving Jim the eyebrows of doom all day and he made some excuse to get Spock alone for a chat. I'm sure he probably has the name of a good divorce lawyer at the ready. Spock brought Amanda along to play buffer. Of course, this is after the two engaged in a battle of wits with the extremely prejudiced nanny. On the bright side of things, nobody has tried to kill each other yet and Spock hasn't broken into the emergency supply of chocolate so far."

As soon as she said that last sentence, the Vulcan in question came into our room and went for her stash of chocolate. Although certain chemicals in chocolate have a similar effect on the Vulcan brain as alcohol on humans it did not have the same effect on the Vulcan fetus as alcohol did on the human fetus. That was a good thing because she wasn't sure she could survive an entire pregnancy without chocolate.

"I spoke too soon."

"Dr. McCoy, I prefer that in the future you are much more careful about what you say in front of our daughter. She is quite intelligent and able to pick up on things other children her age may not understand. I do not feel it was your place to tell our daughter what happened the day her grandmother died." Spock then when on to give a very logical account of all the things that Bones accidentally said in Amanda's presence. This went on for 20 minutes before the Doctor made some excuse to end the call.

"She really told your father that Jim thought he hated him because he didn't have Vulcan girl parts?" She asked for clarification as she started laughing.

"Unfortunately yes." He said consuming a third mini chocolate bar.

"What was his response?"

"He stayed quiet for the rest of the walk except when answering Amanda's questions. Vulcan families do not talk about their problems aloud. We are too civilized for that."

"No you just hold a grudge for a decade. You know, it might be healthy for you and your father to actually talk to each other instead of you hiding in my room. Where is your husband?"

"He is receiving a tour of the house from my sister. It is his punishment for teaching our daughter the C word."

"We are watching this." She said dragging Spock out of the guest room.

5 minutes later they watched in complete fascination as T'Mandy drag Jim around her bedroom by pulling on the sleeve of his shirt. Amanda was now safe in her daddy Spock's arms as Nyota was trying not to laugh at the entire scene. They were too busy putting Amanda's things up earlier and explaining to her why she couldn't call grandpa that name to realize the room was covered with images of Jim. Even if Spock was in the majority of the shots, it was a little bit much. It kind of looked like any teenage room on earth during their boy band period.

"This room reminds me of when I was 12 and I had a crush on the lead singer of the Intergalactic Boys. I think your sister has a crush on your husband." She says in a whisper as she keeps laughing.

"Vulcans do not have crushes." She just rolled her eyes when he said that.

"That's not true daddy. Aunt Ny said you had a crush on daddy. Although, how could you pull daddies pigtails when daddy doesn't have pigtails?" Spock gives her the Vulcan death glare as soon as his daughter said this to him.

"You are right baby. Your daddy did have a crush on daddy Jim. Although, I didn't say he pulled your daddy's pigtails. I said he was acting like a little boy that showed he liked a girl by pulling on her pigtails. In your daddy's case, he had daddy Jim court-martialed. Come on, let's go find your baby uncle to play with." With that, she left Spock alone with his husband and sister.

* * *

Jim has known his husband for almost nine years. He probably knows Spock better than anybody else in the universe. It helps that he has a direct link into his husband's mind. Therefore, he knows when Spock is using him, Amanda, or even Nyota to avoid something. Jim is fully aware that his husband pushing him up against the wall of the guest room 40 minutes before they were supposed to be ready to go to a family dinner was an attempt to avoid his father. He doesn't call him on it because Spock will mentioned something about him spending time with T'Mandy so he didn't have to call his mom back or spend any time with Sarek.

"As much as I really want this to continue, we need to stop." Jim said breaking away from his husband's kisses.

"I did not think that word was in your vocabulary." Spock said as he continued kissing Jim's neck. He really wanted this to continue because after he told his husband that they were taking care of his brother and sister for an additional two weeks he wasn't getting any for a while.

"I didn't think so either. We're supposed to go out with your family to a very formal Vulcan restaurant in now 39 minutes and it's my turn to make sure our three year old daughter doesn't go to a dinner at a Vulcan restaurant wearing her pretty princess dress."

"I thought we left that particular ensemble on the ship."

"She stuck it in her luggage along with several other inappropriate things for New Vulcan."

"I'm sure Nyota will take care of it." He said kissing him again.

"Nyota is too busy trying not to throw up in public or fall down from exhaustion. That heat is starting to make it worse. I am just glad that your father is in his desire to make this house an almost exact replica of your old house included the air conditioning that he got for your mom the first time around. You're avoiding your father. You want to have sex with me just so you don't have to deal with your father." Now he knew Spock was going to say something to him.

"So are you. That is why you went with T'Mandy this afternoon. You are also avoiding your mother. She contacted me today asking me to get you to contact her. For your information I always want to engage in coitus with you."

"Except when you're mad at me, which you were earlier in the day. You were also mad when you came from picking up your sister. Did you break into the chocolate?

"Maybe,"

"What did your father say to you? He didn't bring up the D word did he?"

"Vulcan's do not divorce."

"I know better. Just like in every other culture, there is still a way to dissolve an unwanted marriage or bond. Tell me what happened, other than our daughter telling him the real reason why I think he hates me?"

He never did get to find out what happened because, as predicted, their daughter ran into the room wearing her pretty princess dress. Apparently, they both forgot that the guest room didn't have the Amanda protocol that automatically locked the bedroom if they started to engage in certain activities. He left his husband to dress their daughter in the Vulcan robes her grandfather sent.

31 minutes later, he and a very angry Amanda were standing in the living room like room waiting for everyone else to show up.

"Why can't I wear my pretty princess dress? You let me wear it to the last formal dinner. I don't wanna wear this." She said pointing to the appropriate outfit for your average Vulcan three year old."

"We talked about this before. Because of the job that daddy and I do, sometimes you're going to have to play dress up. You remember that pretty blue outfit that you wore when we took you down to meet that king. It's the same thing this time. This is what people wear here and since you are of Vulcan ancestry, you should wear the robes. Your daddy is going to be wearing the same thing."

Of course, Spock walks out of their room wearing black dress pants and a blue button up top that is a bit darker then the science blue that he normally wears.

"See daddy is not wearing this. If he is not wearing it, I'm not wearing it."

"Why are you not wearing your traditional Vulcan robes?"

"It seems that a certain someone distracted me when I was packing and I forgot to include them." Jim remembered exactly how he distracted his husband. That was fun.

"I promise you can wear whatever you want when we are on earth if you wear that tonight."

"That's not fair." His daughter said using the Kirk signature pout against him.

"Daddy would be wearing his robes if I did not distract him with grown-up play time."

"Daddy forgot to pack his other clothes because you and daddy were having sex? That's what uncle bones said grown-up play time was." He was too mortified by the fact that his three year old daughter knew what grown-up play time really was to see the other person walk into the room.

"Did your uncle Bones in fact tell you what sex is?" Spock asked in a cold even tone that told him his best friend was a dead man.

"That it was something grownups do for fun when they were in love or if they want to make children. Is that how I got my new brother and sister?" After Spock rescued him from his little sister when Amanda was playing with her baby uncle under the watchful eye of T'Pay, the three of them had a family meeting. They were now all aware that sex was involved in the creation of the two new babies, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to explain that to his three year old.

"Nyota is pregnant again? I was under the impression you two decided not to have another child until the end of the current mission." By this point, Nyota was in the room carrying baby Sonnick.

"Uncle Bones said it was an acc…" Fortunately, for everybody involved Spock was able to literally put a hand over their daughter's mouth before Sarek enter the room.

"Who is ready for some nice vegetarian cuisine?" Jim said grabbing his daughter from his husband and running to the transport as quickly as possible.


	4. Family Dinner Torture

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Warning: Some flash back S/U in this chapter but it is for a good cause. I will make up for it in a later chapter by flashing back to how Jim and Spock got together. If asked nicely I may be willing to flashback to the wedding.

Note:

**Italicize words signify mental communication**

Also in my vision of the 2009 alternate reality, I believe that Christine Chapel would have started her medical training earlier. In this story, she is already a doctor by 2267.

Revised as of 6/11/2012

* * *

**Chapter Four: Family Dinner Torture**

**12.2 weeks earlier**

"When am I going to get more grandchildren?" Her Mother Alexis asked as soon as she popped up on screen. This is now how their conversations always started. Her mom would ask about more grandchildren and she would change the subject to her father's health. The technique of avoidance doesn't work with a lawyer.

Technically Alexis was her stepmother, but Alexis was the one who raised her. She doesn't remember her biological mom at all. Her mom was a lawyer for Starfleet and has been stationed at the San Francisco offices ever since her father got sick last year. When she was little, her mom worked out of the Pretoria and Nairobi offices of Starfleet. There were better treatment facilities in San Francisco for her father's condition, which was why she was transferred there. On the bright side, her position meant it was possible for them to occasionally have a real time chat even when in deep space under the guise of some official conversation.

"You don't want to say hi to your only daughter after not speaking to her for months. How's dad?"

"You e-mail me daily. You already know your dad is as well as he always is. I know what is going on with you. If something was really wrong Jim or Spock would have called me." That was true enough.

"You're the only one I know who refers to my commanding officers by their first names."

"They are the fathers of my only grandchild. I'll call them whatever I want. How is my grand baby? Did Amanda get the box of toys I sent? Trying to calculate what starbase you will be stopping at is quite difficult. "

"Tell me about it. Yes. I love the hat. I have to send you a picture of a very stern Vulcan trying not to frown when wearing the thing." She said smiling.

"Now let's get back to the important question. When am I going to get another grand baby?"

"When the current mission is over, I agreed to be a surrogate for baby number two. We have a little less than three years to go." Hopefully that will pacify her for the moment and she will not ask about her lack of boyfriend as usual.

"I meant from you." Of course, she did.

"At the very least that means that I need to be having sex. The last time that happened was sometime during shore leave. I told you how bad that turned out."

She decided to go clubbing with Dr. Chapel one night on shore leave where she met a supposedly nice guy that she took back to her hotel room for some casual yet protected sex. (STIs are bad.) After he got off, but was not skilled enough to do the same for her, she received an urgent call telling her that her favorite niece was in the hospital. She left immediately without thinking.

"Yes I heard the unedited story from Jim." Why did she tell him what happened? He always falls victim to Alexis's interrogation techniques. "That ended badly because it was a random hook up. You need to find someone who appreciates you and that you can have a real relationship with."

"You do remember that I work on a starship? I'm not planning on changing that any time soon. The only people I can start a relationship with must also work on that starship. The last time I dated someone on that ship we almost lost our engineer. Jim did lose his assistant."

After the nasty breakup with Scotty, things were so bad she couldn't even be in the same part of the ship with him. She was sure Jim was considering transferring one of them. Fortunately, after the special breakup therapy things were better. Maybe that's why he went along with it.

"You can't assume every relationship will fail because of one Scotsman with commitment issues who did that thing we will not speak of. Not all relationships end badly or at all. Your breakup with Spock went very well. You're still the best of friends. You're the best of friends with his husband. You gave birth to his daughter whom you treat like your own kid. They see it the exact same way. Otherwise they wouldn't let her call me grandma."

"That's because even when we were technically dating, we were really just friends who slept with each other." Why is she telling her this? "I loved him more than a friend but less than a lover. I figured out that we were better as friends right about the time I figured out that he was head over feet in love with Jim." She said with a laugh.

"I didn't get married until I was in my thirties. Just like you I thought it would never happen, but it did eventually."

"The truth of the matter is, mom, I really don't have the desire to live the white picket fence dream. I like it here in space. I liked the work I'm doing. I don't need a man to make me feel loved or worth something. If you can't see the value in yourself, then how do you expect anyone else to see what you're worth?" There's no way she will argue with that point.

"I will concede the point that you don't want to be Miss Mary homemaker on Earth." She finally won one.

"Thank you. Now can we have no more talk about children or husbands? I want to talk to you about coming to visit for shore leave in three months."

"However, you still want children and you can still do that in space." She can never win with her mom.

"Mom…" she started but was cut off.

"Do not even start arguing with a lawyer that you don't want children. You left that guy the moment you knew that Amanda was sick. You love that baby so much. You're a wonderful mother to her."

"But I'm not Amanda's mom. Unless I have an accident on shore leave, which is pretty unlikely considering the advancements in modern birth control, I never will be a mom." She can't decide if that's good or bad.

"What about a friend? You could just come to some sort of arrangement. Lots of people do stuff like that now."

"The only two male friends I have that I am close enough to do something like that with are married to each other. Also if I somehow got pregnant, I would have to leave Enterprise. Until the test period with Amanda is over, there not going to let any more children live on starships."

"Not if you accidentally got pregnant by the right person." She said cryptically. She never got to hear the end of that conversation because her mom dismissed her when her favorite grandchild and Jim burst in on the call.

Later that night after she read Amanda a bedtime story she was sharing a cup of tea alone with Jim because Spock had gamma shift by himself.

"You won't believe what your mom asked me when Amanda ran back to her quarters to get the painting she made for your mom to show her." He started.

"When are you going to give her another grand baby? Nothing like a meddling mom." she said with a little laugh that was forced.

"Not quite. You know you should be thankful for having her. It's better than having a biological mother that completely ignores you unless she wants something and an alcoholic stepfather that hates you and used you as his own personal punching bag. She only meddles because she loves you." Compare to Jim's childhood, she know she won the stepmom lottery.

"You have a point. What did she ask you?"

"It was close to what you suggested. It was, 'When are you going to get my daughter pregnant?' Suddenly all the tea in her mouth was sprayed over the surface of the table.

"Why do I have a feeling she was not talking about artificial insemination?" She asked as soon as she could speak again.

"She wasn't. One of the benefits of having a mom who is very familiar with Starfleet regulations is she knows all the loopholes. She is very handy to know in a crisis. If you were to accidentally get pregnant the old-fashioned way by me or Spock, you could not be kicked off the ship, especially if you got pregnant by Spock because of the endangered species thing. You would be covered by the same policy that is allowing the test case with Amanda. Between the need to re populate New Vulcan and the command shortage, they are not going to kick us out. In addition, Amanda has been begging for a brother or sister."

"You want to sleep with me just to keep my mother and your daughter from bugging you about a new baby?" She asked incredulously.

"I want to watch you sleep with my husband so that your mother and our daughter will stop asking about a new baby. It would be really hot." She was too busy slapping him for what he said about her having sex with Spock to really pick up on his use of the word "our".

"Okay, I won't mention it again. She is right. You would make a really good mom. You are really good with Aman..."

Fortunately for everybody involved, a red alert was sounded, putting an end to the highly awkward situation. She tried not to think about what was said as she took Amanda to sickbay to be safe.

* * *

**The Present**

So far, in his relatively short life (in Vulcan terms), he has never experienced such an uncomfortable ride anywhere. The ride home after he decided to decline the offer to attend the Vulcan Science Academy was less uncomfortable. After his husband made a strategic retreat to the car along with his stepmother and half siblings he was left to explain the circumstances of Nyota's current pregnancy.

It would be a much more tolerable situation if he could lie to his father. Instead, he was forced to tell the entire truth as they knew it. At least the parts that were not classified.

His father must have been unaware of the fact that Nyota could speak fluent high Vulcan otherwise he would not have asked his son if she was his concubine. He learned from that exchange that it is possible to curse in high Vulcan.

Thanks to that exchange, the car was completely silent except for his daughter singing an old song from an ancient Earth children show about a toy purple dinosaur who can come to life.

"_Why can't she sing the Sesame Street song? At least that show still makes new episodes and has Vulcan puppets. I'm going to kill whoever on the crew let her watch that show. The creepy dinosaur speaking about peace and love is disturbing."_ His husband said mentally.

Spock was too upset at his husband to reply or even let him know that Sulu was the one who exposed their daughter to that ancient torturous dinosaur. After 3.8 years of marriage, he is willing to admit that his husband can make even a Vulcan angry. Actually, he was aware of that within the first 48 hours of their acquaintance.

"_I am not speaking to you. If it would not cause my father to look into ways to end our marriage, I would have you sleep on the couch tonight. You left me to deal with my father __**alone**__. You left me to explain everything to my father alone, when you promised to do it with me." _He gave Jim what his husband refers to as his "angry glare of death".

"_I thought if I took Amanda to the car it would have prevented that conversation from happening._" He picked up his husband's sincerity instantly.

"_Unfortunately, your strategy did not have the desired effect. Although I'm grateful that Amanda did not hear the conversation that I had with my father._" Although their daughter was bright, he did not want her to learn about the specific mechanics of what happened until she was older. He also did not want Amanda to hear certain things that her grandpa said about her favorite aunt. Not that he said much. He just raised an eyebrow as he asked logical but inappropriate questions.

"_I know, but knowing our luck, she probably overheard the conversation I had with your stepmom. She asked the same question, just more directly._"Of course, she would. Due to her years on Earth, she has lost the Vulcan tendency to keep everything bottled up inside until meditation.

"_What did you tell her?"_

"_I told her the truth."_

"_What version of the truth would that be?"_ He has discovered a long time ago that his husband has a very liberal definition of truth. This has come in handy during crisis situations and during diplomatic negotiations.

"_We got completely wasted on alien aphrodisiacs and fertility drugs without our knowledge which resulted in us getting your ex-girlfriend pregnant. I also pointed out that it actually happened with a member of the crew we actually like and respect. At least it wasn't Dr. Chapel." _His husband visibly shivered when he said that mentally.

"_That would have been most unfortunate considering Dr. Chapel has I believe what is referred to on Earth as a 'crush' on me." _At that moment he noticed that Amanda finally stopped singing the ancient purple dinosaur song about love and family. He physically sighed in relief. It was an unfortunate habit that he picked up from Jim.

"_It's less creepy than your sister having a crush on me. She asked me to sit next to her at dinner."_

Not wanting to talk about his sister's obvious crush, he decided to redirect the conversation._ "How did T'Pay react?_"

"_She handled the entire situation rationally. She also said having a child naturally would be more logical. At least someone other than Alexis is happy. You know she's going to literally jump for joy when we tell her. I told you about the conversation a couple of months ago where she essentially asked us to knock up her daughter."_

As he listened to his husband's response, his daughter started singing that old Earth song that supposedly does not end but usually does after he achieves a rare headache. Currently he was mentally planning on how to get back at Sulu for exposing his daughter to ancient children's songs that can cause a Vulcan to get a headache.

"_I remember that conversation. T'Pay's response is logical due to her time on Earth."_

"_I'm sorry for what happened earlier and I promise to make it up to you as soon as all children and parents are asleep. I brought massage oil and the edible chocolate body paint." _Jim sent a mental image of exactly what he wanted to do with that body paint that would have caused him to start coughing or have some other visible reaction if he were not Vulcan.

"_I find your proposal agreeable."_

"_On the bright side, this dinner can't get any worse than it already has. What more could go wrong besides your father accidentally finding out?"_

At that moment his sister grabbed one of Amanda's stuffed animals and threw it at her as she requested that she stops singing that illogical song that says it does not end but usually does. He should be happy that she didn't throw something harder as the obligatory lecture about control began.

He never should have said that nothing worse could happen. He is pretty sure he just jinxed this dinner. Things kept getting worse as they arrived at the restaurant. Apparently, the smell of Vulcan Earth fusion cuisine can trigger "morning sickness" very easily. Nyota threw up in the fake plant that Sarek was standing next to as they were waiting for their table.

For once, he was happy for the Vulcan ability to keep a straight face no matter what. Although a few of the other humans there did not react so kindly.

The second time she threw up she ruined her outfit. T'Pay drove her back to the house to change. Now they were stuck dealing with Spock's father without a buffer. Despite disliking her originally, Sarek absolutely loved Nyota if such a thing where possible for a Vulcan or at least he liked her more than him.

In addition, because she was gone Jim had to order for his daughter. Between all her food allergies that she inherited from him and the food sensitivities that she inherited from her other father, taking her to any restaurant was difficult. Add the fact that like most three-year-olds she didn't like trying new things, you have one "fun" combination.

Nyota can usually find that perfect dish for her within 5 minutes. Spock can usually find something within 10 minutes that would be safe for her to eat but not necessarily be eaten without resorting to bribery. Unfortunately, Spock was too busy getting a thinly veiled lecture from his father on all the things he is doing wrong such as raising his eyebrows too high in public.

The last time he ordered for his daughter at a restaurant they got to know how great the hospital system was on the planet they were visiting. It turns out although not allergic to seafood from Earth; Amanda was allergic to seafood from almost every other planet in the federation.

She also inherited his allergies to all members of the lagoon family. That right there was about half the menu at this place. In addition, she could not eat anything with nuts, strawberries (from any planet), or red dye number 722. Because she is three, she will not eat anything that is orange, not completely liquid, or comes from the fourth replicator from the right in the mess hall on Enterprise.

Because she was her other father's child she will not eat anything that resembles Italian Food. During his academy time, due to the fact they serve bad Americanized Italian food, Spock has developed an intolerance for all similar foods. Jim has tried to convince his husband that what they served at the academy was not an accurate representation of Italian cuisine on any planet, but the stubborn Vulcan will not listen to him. Because dad will not eat the pasta with cream sauce, she won't.

"_Do they have_ _McDonald's on this planet? She's not gonna eat anything here." _He said in his head to his husband.

"_I am unsure because we haven't been here for so long. I believe we passed a Starbucks on the way here, so it is highly probable that other Earth corporations have set up shop on new Vulcan. However, I am sure the McDonald's would serve only 'veggie burgers'."_

"_The existence of Starbucks on a planet really does not mean anything. Sometimes I think Starbucks has a representative on our ship. It seems like two weeks after we do a first contact they are already opening up a Starbucks on the planet."_

Of course, at that moment their daughter just had to ask if she could have a cheeseburger. This led to explaining to Sarek why his granddaughter was not a vegetarian. The logical answer was she was allergic to practically all non-animal sources of protein. Logic for some odd reason was not really winning against sentimentality.

As usual, Sarek mentioned something about the fact that they chose not to genetically engineer Amanda not to have these problems. If they were not surrounded by other individuals, he would mention the fact that his counterpart in the other dimension can eat a soy burger without his throat closing up. (Also, his counterpart can kiss Spock after he eats a soy burger without his throat closing up.) In other words, being genetically predisposed for something doesn't necessarily mean you'll develop a problem.

Spock explained to his dad that they want Amanda to be as normal as possible and therefore they chose not to play around with her DNA profile extensively. The only thing they did was make sure she was exactly 25% Vulcan. Maybe it was a good thing that those aliens did whatever they did because these babies will be a complete mystery genetically.

What Spock didn't say to his father was he didn't want his daughter to be like him. There is a little resentment on Spock's part about the extensive genetic engineering used to create him, including extra gifts of telepathy.

Every time he comes here he realizes how good his husband's diplomatic skills are. Because if he was the one being yelled at, a physical altercation would have occurred the moment Sarek suggested that Amanda was behaving inappropriately for a three year old because she was surrounded by human adults instead of Vulcan children her own age.

His obsessing over the menu was for nothing because before she left Nyota ordered Amanda a grilled cheese sandwich with purple carrot sticks. (How was he supposed to know you could get grilled cheese at a Vulcan restaurant when it was not even on the menu?)

Although Amanda was eating, no one else was. They were still waiting for the others to return. At least if he had food to distract himself with he would not be 2.6 minutes from hiding in the restroom for the remainder of the family dinner torture. He wondered if Spock would be amenable to a quickie in the men's room.

"_If it means I will no longer have to listen to my father logically explain why I am a complete disappointment because I cannot live up to his illogical standards, I would be willing to have you orally or digitally stimulate me in the facilities_." He swallowed hard at that.

"_You heard that thought? Wait, you are willing to do that? How much chocolate have you eaten?"_

"_You projected an image of you pushing me up against the wall of the bathroom stall. However considering the circumstances when we return to the house I will be the one throwing you against a wall."_ That was Spock-speak for "we will be having very rough sex tonight so I can work through my daddy issues."

"_If you are insinuating that I am inebriated, you are incorrect. I only consume enough chocolate so I could deal with my father_."

"_Then you must be completely smashed_." He was expecting to feel a little of bit happiness from Spock at his joke not anxiety and anger. That's when he noticed the woman and an older child talking to his father-in-law. A few moments later, the woman and the child took a seat next to Sarek.

"Spock you remember T'Pring. She is a member of my staff. This is her son Sunk. He is 10.5 Terran years old."

"_She is the T'Pring?"_ He's never met the woman but has heard interesting stories from Spock and Nyota. His personal favorite was how Nyota convinced Spock to sleep with her right _after he discovered T'Pring was cheating on him._

"_It is a pity that she was off planet when it was destroyed."_ He replied mentally to his husband. He could definitely detect animosity.

"Considering I have a perfect memory it would be impossible to forget your existence. _No matter how hard I try to forget._" The last part was added mentally for Jim's benefit.

"I would assume because you are a half-breed your mental faculties would be somewhat faulty. It has been a very long time."

"Actually, it's been 11.3 years."

* * *

She looked at herself one last time before walking back out to the transporter. In this outfit the baby bulge was actually noticeable even if it was only to her. She did not start showing with Amanda until she was 13 weeks pregnant. However, with twins she was already at the point she could not fit in half of her clothing. At least this time she will actually get to buy her maternity wear in person instead of by digital catalog.

As soon as she got into the transporter, T'Pay asked her the one question she did not want to be asked. "James told me what happened. How are you handling the prospect of being a mom again?"

"I'm not. I'm not a mom. I was not even a mom the first time around. I'm not Amanda's mother. The children that I'm carrying our Jim and Spock's children, not mine. They are great dads that deserve to have another child and I'm happy to be doing this for them. Even if the circumstances were different, I'm too concerned with my career to have children." Even as she spoke the words she knew that everything she said was a lie. She was offered the opportunity to be the first officer on a newly reconstructed ship but turned it down so she could play Barbies with her niece whenever possible.

"I believed the same thing, except in my case it was true. If it were not for the fact that my species was endangered I would never considered having children." If it wasn't for her time around Spock she would not be able to pick up uneasiness in her voice. She was surprised to hear uneasiness in a Vulcan that was not Spock.

They did not speak again until they reached the restaurant. She arrived just in time to see Jim get in to a verbal sparring match with Spock's ex fiancée.

When the two-faced little bitch called her a certain Vulcan word that translates to a derogatory standard word that is used to describe women who engage in sexual relationships with gay men she had the desire to throw up on her. Unfortunately, for the first time that day "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" Decided to behave.

She quickly took a seat next to Spock on the other side. Amanda was upset because she did not sit next to her. She could not believe that Sarek was being so nice to the woman after what she did to Spock.

"How can your father be nice to that bitch after what she did to you?" She asked in a language that she knew the others did not know.

"Vulcans do not do nice." He replied in the same language.

"You know what I mean."

"I do. My father is under a misconception about why I ended my relationship with T'Pring and I choose not to enlighten him."

* * *

**11.3 years earlier**

He honestly wondered why he volunteered for this assignment. It was his friend and student Nyota who convinced him to do this. He was serving as the faculty adviser for a group of cadets that were participating in a cultural exchange of sorts on the planet.

Personally, he'd rather be surrounded by Vulcan eating plants then surrounded by people who felt he was inferior because of his mother or his decision not to go to the VAS. Yet for some reason, Cadet Uhura had the ability to convince him to do many things that he'd rather not do.

His mother was very happy that he was back on Vulcan even if it was only for two weeks. He has had lunch with her several times at her favorite Vulcan Earth fusion restaurant. Although Vulcans looked down on humans in general, there's much respect for some aspects of their cuisine.

She was not happy that he chose to stay at the hotel with the other cadets instead of coming home. It was hard for him to explain to her why he could not think of that place as home. It was illogical, yet he never felt comfortable in his father's house. However, comfort was a feeling that he was not supposed to have.

It was his second to last night on the planet of his birth and Cadet Uhura insisted that he take her to a restaurant away from the hotel. If wishing were not so illogical, he would have wished he chose another restaurant. They were sitting three tables away from his perspective bond mate with another man, one of the tormentors of his youth. She was running her fingers over his hand in a way that was practically obscene. His body became tense which was uncharacteristic for someone of his heritage. He felt anger even though he should not, coupled with an odd sense of betrayal.

"What's wrong?" She asked instantly picking up on something.

"It is nothing, Cadet Uhura."

"How many times do I have to tell you when we're not in the classroom it is Nyota?"

"So far, this has been your 54th attempt.

"Yet you're still not listening to me. Who is that girl over there that has you so tense?

"That is T'Pring. She is my intended." At that point, he switched into Vulcan so he could convey the right word that describes his relationship with T'Pring.

"She isn't exactly acting like someone who is engaged. If I was your intended, I wouldn't be making out by Vulcan standards with other guys in public. You deserve better than her."

"Most Vulcans do not agree with you."

"Fortunately for you I am not a Vulcan.

"It is unseemly." Spock said during their meal as he noticed the two continuing to touch in a manner that was more appropriate for the bedroom.

"You need to break up with her. Also, I think I see a baby bulge underneath those heavy robes."

"That is probably what she wants. I know that she is aware of my presence here."

"So she is putting on a show for you?"

"That scenario is highly probable considering she is engaging in behavior that is causing the other patrons extreme discomfort, if Vulcans felt such a thing as discomfort. She never wanted to be engaged to me in the first place. It was an arrangement struck between our two clans without our consent."

"I say good riddance to someone like her. If she is putting on a show then I think we should too." That's when he felt Nyota kiss him as if he were human. It was the first time he ever kissed anyone in such a way. He did not know what to think. It was pleasant, if nothing else.

26.8 minutes later after the Vulcan equivalent of screaming, T'Pring, who was in fact pregnant, agreed to dissolve their preexisting bond. He felt relieved. He should not be feeling anything.

The fact that he felt anything in relation to the entire process was why T'Pring chose to be with someone else. At least that is the message his father left him after he found out about the end of their engagement bond.

Apparently, in an effort to gain "sympathy" she told his father she broke the bond because he was carrying on with some human. He deleted the message without calling his father back. He chose not to correct his father's fallacy.


	5. The Joys of parenting

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. The answers to the bonus questions are Barney_,_Lamb Chops Play-along, and The Song That Never Ends. The winners are angym, ShamelessSpocker, MirrorFlower and DarkWind, and My3scape.

**Warning: **Mentions of child abuse.

**Chapter 5: The Joys of parenting**

Nyota woke up at exactly 5:26 AM planet time the next day after the most uncomfortable dinner of her life and ran straight into the bathroom to throw up. She may have pushed a still half asleep Jim out of the way as she made her way to the facilities shared by both guest rooms. After she was convinced that the entire contents of her stomach was currently being flushed down the commode she took the mouthwash that Jim gave her and rinsed her mouth.

"I thought you said the morning sickness was better this time around?" Jim asked as she spit into the sink.

"It is. You do remember with Amanda I threw up on a ambassador. I believe I was personally responsible for an entire planet not joining the Federation." She said as she sat down on the floor with her back against the cool stone of the tub. She would have to ask Spock later why his father's house had earth style bathrooms. She thought back to the exchange program years ago and the fact that even the luxury hotels did not have bathtubs. Bathtubs on a desert planet where water was a precious commodity would be completely illogical. Although more water was available on the new planet, it is still a precious commodity.

"It is completely illogical to blame the entire incident on the fact you regurgitated your lunch on the ambassador shoes. There government was looking for any excuse not to join the Federation." Spock said as he appeared in the doorway holding a bottle of ginger ale.

"Thank you. How did you know we were here? You did that mind talkie thing didn't you?" She asked as she took a long slow drink.

"It is not a mind talking thing."Jim said incredulously.

"Perhaps," "Of course not." The two said simultaneously canceling each other out.

"How is your health? Are you feeling any other discomfort?" Spock asked her.

"Seriously, I'm fine. This is not my first pregnancy. Throwing up is normal. I should be asking you how you are. You must have the mother of all hangovers right now?" She said it as a question knowing how much chocolate he has consume since yesterday.

"I am perfectly fine considering the circumstances."

"Oh god, you must be horrible. You just said you were fine. I can't believe he invited her there. She must be the world's biggest bitch to just sit there and smile Vulcan style with the child of the guy she cheated on you with. Even if you never told your dad what she did to you, he should have figured it out by the fact her son was born eight months after the two of you broke up." Jim made a face at that.

"Okay I am missing something. What happened after I went to read Amanda and Jim's number one female Vulcan fan a bedtime story? You'll be happy to know that your sister believe Cinderella was telepathic because she could communicate with mice, but doesn't understand the logic of making a carriage out of biodegradable pumpkin. She also wants to know why Cinderella was not proactive or reported her stepmother to the authorities."

"She's definitely a relative of my husband's. Tough questions from such a little girl. Too bad her father is not as prone to ask questions."

"It seems that my father never arrived at the proper conclusion because after her lover left her four months pregnant she told my father that the child she was caring was mine. Apparently that is why my father pushed so hard for me to come back to new Vulcan. He informed me of my family obligations last night. "

"Bullshit," She said in anger. She couldn't believe that the **Bitch** could lie like that. No, she knew that wasn't true. She has not believed "Vulcans do not lie" since her ex very logically argued he was not in love with Jim right after their original breakup when he so obviously was.

"That's my line." Jim said in irritation.

"Jim I'm telling you there's no way that child can be Spock's unless immaculate conception was involved." She was yelling at this point. "I know for a fact I am the only woman he has ever had sex with. I also have no trouble whatsoever letting your father know that there was no way you touched that-that thing. Jim I know for sure that he was a virgin when we slept together, finally. No one is that awkward unless, it's their first time." Spock look almost offended if such a thing were possible.

"Trust me I completely believe my husband in this matter." He said giving him a Vulcan Kiss. "Baby she didn't mean anything by it. Everybody's first time sucks and not in a good way. Trust me baby your technique has improved greatly." Jim says as he kisses him on the lips this time. She definitely agrees with that statement wholeheartedly. You got to love Spock's learning curve. She wonders if she should let him know how skilled he will be when he achieves the century and a half mark. The joys of biological imperatives.

"Please do not call me that infantile nickname. Genetically yes it is impossible for the child to be mine. Unfortunately, she provided my father with what are obviously forged DNA test." That did not surprise her.

"The timing doesn't even make sense. She had to have gotten pregnant at least a month before you came to Vulcan. We can easily prove her wrong with another DNA test. We don't even have to go to a healer. That thing Dr. McCoy gave you up loads directly into Enterprise's database. One quick scan and we can prove to your dad that the child is not yours."

That is when she remembered that Spock didn't do the scans for Dr. McCoy like he said he would last night. By the time she was done with Amanda and T'Mandy there was no way she was opening the door to their room. Unfortunately, unlike the enterprise the rooms of this house were not soundproofed. Due to unfortunate experiences, she knows what it sounds like when those two are having sex. Maybe it's a good thing Amanda already knows what private time is to some degree. Those two have no idea what celibacy is.

She will mention the scans to Spock as soon as she's less angry or nauseous. It wouldn't do any good if she threw up during the middle of the scans. Dr. Mccoy would be on the first shuttle here complaining the entire way. He was already uneasy after what happened the first time she was pregnant.

"That would not improve the situation. In Vulcan law genetic paternity is irrelevant because the child is mined simply because she was bonded to me at the time of the child's birth. Because everybody believes Vulcans do not lie no one questions the accusations."

"It seems highly illogical not to question the truth of someone's statement. She broke the bond when she was still barely pregnant. I was there. I know it happened. How can she argue otherwise?"

"Oh here is the best part, even though she did not want to stay bonded to Spock because he is half human, she did not want to have a child outside of being bonded, which is a serious social taboo. So although she broke the psychic bond she did not have the bond expunged from the legal record until after she had her child. So for all intensive purposes Amanda already has a half brother." He says sarcastically.

"Please tell me you called my mom?" If anybody can deal with strange interplanetary laws it was her.

"I contacted your mother as soon as my father informed me of the situation. She sent a message this morning to inform us that she was consulting with a colleague on new Vulcan about the best course of action." Spock said sitting on the floor next to her. She laid her head on his lap. She was still to baby sick to get up from the floor. She was so going to kill both of them as soon as this pregnancy was over. She was never going to get pregnant again. So much for this being an easier a pregnancy.

* * *

It was and even 6:00 AM and Jim Kirk was already in a bad mood. He was just happy Nyota actually threw up in the toilet instead of on his shoes again. He couldn't handle anything else this morning.

He couldn't believe his husband's ex almost wife was so vicious. He already disliked her before meeting her. Anybody who would cheat on Spock was an absolute fool. (Sex with Nyota didn't count because Spock was there and she was like family in a not incestuous way.)

After he met the bitch, she was on his hate list right underneath Nero, stepfather number one, stepfather number two, the ultra homophobic grandmother Kirk, and stepfather number four. Jim hated her for the same reason he hated stepfather number one and stepfather number two, besides the way she treated Spock. Jim can recognize an abusive parent a mile away.

He instantly noticed the way T'Pring speaks to her son as if he meant nothing to her. He noticed the way she ignored him. He noticed the way Sunk ate everything on his plate as if that would be the only meal he would have for days. He noticed the way he flinched when Amanda tried to touch him and he was sure it wasn't just a Vulcan thing. Jim could identify it so easily because it was like watching his childhood in a mirror, but with pointy ears and more emotional suppression.

Maybe one could blame Vulcan culture for some of what he saw but not all of it. Even though Sarek drove his son absolutely crazy, Jim knew he did it because he loved Spock. Just like he loved all of his children and grandchildren. He is pretty sure he saw the Vulcan equivalent of a smile when little Amanda gave him a goodnight hug. Jim thinks he might even love Spock a little bit more because he's the only piece of his Amanda that he has left, but he won't say anything about that out loud. Jim knows this because parents only complain about what you're doing wrong if they actually care. Considering how much he complains, he loves Spock a lot.

During the year between college and Starfleet, when he was sleeping his way through the greater population of Iowa and getting a very interesting arrest record, his mom didn't bat an eyelash. When he was little she didn't pay attention to the bruises on his body when she called him. If it was Sam, he knows she would have call the cops immediately. She didn't even bother to call when he drove that classic car into the ravine to get her attention. If it were Sam she would have been on the first shuttle to earth before Frank managed to press charges.

It was obvious by her behavior that T'Pring didn't care. By the end of yesterday evening Jim was seriously wishing that Ny with throw up on the bitch in question.

"What I don't get is why your father didn't tell you earlier or your mom for that matter." Jim said as he sat down on the side of the tub. That was the question that has been on his mind since Sarek took both of them to his office after dinner and explain everything, complete with that obviously forged DNA test and birth certificate.

"Your mother never knew of the child's existence. T'Pring did not come to me until a few months after your wedding when she came looking for a job on my staff after her husband died. I never said anything to you before this time because this is a conversation that should take place in person." Sarek said stoically as he looked at the three as he entered the room.

"It's better than finding out during the dinner from hell. I mean the dinner…" Jim said as he was cut off by his father in law.

"You do not need to clarify your statement James T Kirk, I understand what you mean." He has been married to his son for over three years and he still uses his full name. He should just be happy his father-in-law did not call him Captain anymore."

"Is there some reason why we are having this important conversation in the room that humans refer to as a bathroom. For some reason Spock's mother always chose to have very important conversations in this room."

"I think it's a human thing. Usually when you're in this room your traped. Although were mostly in here so Ny doesn't throw up on your beautiful rugs." Jim said with a little laugh.

"Yes that is most unfortunate. Vulcan women do not suffer from such a malady."

"Must be that superior control." Jim mumbled under his breath. That got him a mental nudge from his husband and an angry glare.

"However, my Amanda did suffer from horrible morning sickness. The doctors theorize that it was due to the fact she was carrying a hybrid child. The only thing that would work was a special tea. I can obtain some for you when I come from the embassy, if you would like. Did you suffer this much previously during gestation with my granddaughter Amanda?"

"It was slightly worse. I'll try anything as long as it's safe for the babies."

"It would be illogical for me to give you anything that would harm my grandchildren."

"Of course, father."

"Since my granddaughter Amanda and my son will be on the campus of the New Vulcan Science Academy with T'Pay I was wondering Jim if you would accompany me today? I will be participating in negotiations soon with several governments that you have made contact with recently. I would benefit greatly from your knowledge. " Jim could tell instantly when an all of branch is being extended to him, especially from a skilled diplomat. Although he wondered how much manipulating of the truth was being done at that moment. He sincerely doubted that he really wanted Jim in his presence for the day.

Jim was not sure he wanted to spend the day at the Vulcan version of the State Department either. Most members of the Vulcan council either loved or hated him. The members that happen to live on earth at the time of the destruction loved him. Everyone else disliked him because he was human. (Let's just say prejudice is alive and well on new Vulcan no matter what people say.)

However, he wanted to know more about the unknown baby situation and spending time with his father in law unfortunately was the only way he was going to get any additional information.

"I wouldn't mind coming with you. However, I am not sure if I want to leave Ny here by herself when she's sick and taking care of Sonnick."

"I'll be fine. Go on, Sonnick and I will be fine. Besides I have a friend coming over." As she said that he purposely tried not to laugh knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"I was unaware that you have any friends on the colony." Sarek said to her.

"Just someone I met over the years." Nyota said cryptically.

"Then it is settled. You will join me at the council today when the others are occupied."

* * *

Jim was regretting his decision when he found himself alone in an enclosed vehicle with his father in law. He wondered what was the probability that they would actually make it to the Vulcan Council headquarters in tack. He was sure if his husband was there he could tell him the probability within a 0.0001 margin of error.

The silence was killing him. He would be willing to listen to Amanda singing the Barney song again if it meant not dealing with the silence.

"You are under various missed conceptions about my regard for you." Sarek said finally breaking the silence.

"So you don't want me to divorce your son so he can marry his baby's mama." Jim said without even thinking about the comment.

"I seriously doubt my son would find a union between himself and Nyota truly satisfying. If that was his true desire they would never have broken up in the first place. Although I am at a loss to explain why you or my son keep engaging in sexual intercourse with her if she is not your concubine or consort?"

"I thought you were speaking about T'Pring . As for Nyota, it's not a usual thing. It's only happened twice in nine years. The last time it really didn't count because meddling aliens gave us some sort of diplomatic gift. I don't even remember what happened which is kind of a shame because it was probably ho...never mind. The first time doesn't really count either. I mean she just caught her boyfriend of over a year having sex with my assistant in a Jefferson tube in engineering two days after she asked him to move in with her. If she didn't get some revenge sex there was no way the ship was going to function without me transferring my Chief Engineer. If you can't have revenge sex with your friends who can you have revenge sex with?"

"That was not the explanation I was looking for. Even on earth I was under the impression that most parents are uncomfortable with learning the details of their children sex lives."

"That's true. God I hope Amanda takes after her dad and doesn't lose her virginity until she is 24 and not me. I don't think I can deal with a little version of me. Just the thought of it gives me nightmares." Jim says with a little shiver before he continues. "Just so you know there is no way T'Pring's child can be spock's biologically."

"I am well aware of the improbability of that considering my son was on earth when the child was conceived. I received other reports from family membersthe T'Pring was carrying on with a nephew of mine at the time."

"Then why did you tell Spock that child was his?"

"I did not say that I believe the child was my son's but rather the law says so. T'Pring also use that legal status to secure a position on my staff after her husband died. As I stated earlier, you are under several false assumptions regarding my perception of you. First, I do not hate you."

"Because hatred is an emotion." Jim mumbled under his breath.

"I know my son has shared his childhood with you in great detail. You are well aware that Vulcans do hate. Vulcan emotions are more intense than anything else on earth. I do not hate you because I do not hate you. I do not hate you for misspelling my name on the wedding invitation. It is illogical to hate someone simply because they used a computer program not designed to recognize Vulcan names to guarantee the accuracy of his wedding invitation." Considering the looks he was receiving yesterday he found that statement to be the Vulcan version of a lie, but didn't say anything.

"I also do not hate you because you do not have Vulcan girl parts."

"Oh god, I still can't believe she said that." He said with a groan.

"It is a consequence of her spending too much time around adults. It would be better if she were surrounded by other Vulcan children." Their he goes again.

"So they can call her half breed or rather quarter breed. No way. I'm not letting go of my husband just so you can marry him off to somebody like T'Pring."

"I do not know where this assumption comes from where you assume that I want my son with someone like T'Pring, nothing could be farther from the truth. I am well aware that my son only loves you and would not want to be separated from you under any circumstances.

"Then why do you keep pressuring Spock to move back."

"When Amanda is several light years away from you and only calls you occasionally, I will ask you the same question. Perhaps then, you will understand my true motivations." Nothing much was said after that.

A/N: I've come to the realization that** I need betas** for all of my stories. Even though I read every chapter several times before posting there's still stuff that I am just not able to catch. Karallaye has graciously agreed to beta for You Don't Have To Be My Boyfriend. However, I need someone for all my other stories including the ones that are already posted. The more volunteers the better.

**Bonus questions: **Who is Nyota's friend on New Vulcan? How does she know how "skilled" Spock will be when he achieves the century and a half mark?


	6. Family history Lesson

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Warning: Strong language and other uncomfortable situations.

**Note:** In this story, Sam's first wife is not Aurelan. There is a plot related reason for this. Remember the whole point of having a reboot universe is we don't know what's going to happen next.

Does anybody want to be my beta for this story? We all know I do need one. All assistance will be appreciated.

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* * *

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Chapter six: Family History Lesson

**5.4 years earlier**

It has been exactly one week since what he has been referring to in his head as the Jefferson tube cheaters incident and the situation on the ship was anything but good. After spending three days on bed rest after going unconscious when she caught her boyfriend fucking Jim's yeoman, Ny seemed ready to kill her now ex boyfriend whenever they are in proximity. She wasn't the only one.

Sometimes he thinks Vulcan control is the only reason why his overprotective boyfriend has not strangle there chief engineer yet. Personally, Jim believes it slipped a little earlier. Spock was with Ny when they walked in on the incident. You cannot convince Jim otherwise that the hand prints the idiot was wearing were not caused by Spock or Uhura. Jim just wasn't sure if it was Spock or Uhura that strangled the hell out of the ass. He does know for sure that the black eye that he still has the last remnants of was given to him by Uhura. She knocked him out cold in sick bay after he had tried to explain why he cheated on her or rather blame her for his inability to keep his dick to himself. He actually accused her of sleeping with Spock during their relationship. Good thing he wasn't there otherwise he would have decked him himself. (The dick still has a black eye because Dr. Mccoy refused to repair it on principle after making some reference to the old terrain book _The Scarlet Letter_.)

At least she wasn't the crying mess his mother was after she walked in on Frank screwing her now former best friend in their bed. That had been bad. Six months or so after the car cliff incident his mother came back to earth for a surprise shore leave. She was so happy to be back that she actually took him and Sam for ice cream and a mini shopping spree. The happiness went away 30 minutes later when she caught her husband of over 9 years with her best friend of over 30 years. After she threw Frank out of the house, through his things in a bonfire, and sent Sam to stay with a friend she completely broke down in front of him. On the bright side she didn't come back to earth two weeks earlier in time to see him covered in bruises after the stepdick's latest "mood swing".

He watched the same scene again for years later with stepped dad number two who his mom met when they were serving together on the USS Rodham Clinton. At least this time Jim didn't have to actually see his mom walk in on her husband screwing his best friend or listen to stepdad number two explain that he and said best friend had been lovers since there academy days when they were roommates.

Unfortunately, the ass did not get to see his mom cry for three days straight as she burned hard copies of her wedding pictures. Of course, this is after she stabbed the photographs of the best man with a butcher knife.

Fortunately, for him Uhura is not his mother. She's brokenhearted, but she's not going to cry about it. Ny has been angry and belligerent in private to the person that she thought loved her and cold but professional at other times. Of course, Scotty was usually out of the room before anything could be said. Jim wondered how long the professional stability would last. He was expecting the explosion to occur at any moment and he wasn't looking forward to writing up his chief communications officer for killing her ex boyfriend if she couldn't make it look like an accident.

After an almost near explosion in the cafeteria this afternoon he realized he needed help. Normally he go straight to his brilliant first officer for assistance but Spock was too angry in a very Vulcan way at the guy for hurting the best friend that he's not sleeping with. He was pretty sure that his Vulcan fiancée was fantasizing about doing scary things to the prick that his pre reform ancestors would enjoy immensely.

He contacted Admiral Pike about the situation explaining everything including the fact that he was writing up his yeoman for having sex when on duty and wanted her to be removed from his service immediately. Pike suggested transferring Scotty back to Delta Vega and actually enforcing Starfleet fraternization policies to keep this situation from occurring in the future. Jim then reminded the admiral that he would look like a complete hypocrite if he enforces the policy.

"Sir, you do remember that I am currently sleeping with my first officer. If you expect us to stop sleeping with each other, you are absolutely crazy sir with all due respect. I don't expect my crew to do anything that I am not willing to do myself. I refuse to be a hypocrite. Trust me, I am not willing to not be with Spock. I will resign first." He said to his commanding officer with all seriousness.

"You're not just sleeping with your first officer you're practically married to him. Technically, you two qualify for spouse assignments. You have a psychic link into his mind. The Starfleet fraternization policies regulate random hookups not unions that are technically marriages in some cultures."

"It's still too close, sir. Again I do not expect my crew to do anything that I would not do myself." After 30 more minutes of talking about ship related things, the only solution he had was transferring his chief engineer to another assignment. He personally didn't like him that much right now, but he knew he was the best engineer in the fleet. Being a good captain meant not letting his personal feelings cloud his judgment.

After hanging up he decided to contact his advice source of last resort Elder Selek also known as the older wiser version of his bond mate/boyfriend. Although the older Spock would not provide Jim with a road map for the future or winning lottery numbers he made a good sounding board.

"It is good to see you again old friend. I hope all is well with you." The older Spock said as soon as he appeared on the screen.

"So do I, unfortunately it's not. What do you know about being able to work with somebody you're in love with after they betrayed your trust by sleeping with one of the yeomans?" Judging by the angry (for a Vulcan) look in Spock's eyes he probably could have worded that question a little bit better.

"I'm sure my counterpart will forgive you eventually for your transgression. I always did." That last part was whispered so low that he was surprised the microphone picked up on it. Why did he have a feeling from the other Spock's words that he was a bit of a dick in the other dimension.

"Spock is always forgiving. However, the worst thing I've done recently was leave a soaking wet uniform in the middle of our quarters. After seeing what my mom went through with step dad number one and step dad number two, I never want to hurt Spock like that." The Vulcan in front of him looked pleased at that statement.

"Our relationship was complicated, but I did have a great love for him as he did for me. He was not as open as you were. I wish not to speak about it in great detail as I may influence you unduly."

"Considering I'm already bonded to your counterpart, I think the damage has already been done. Besides, I think you did enough meddling when you told a certain future husband of mind to "do what feels right" and convince him to stay with me on Enterprise. Up until Spock and your meddling, I think I was doing a really good job of never letting anybody get close enough for me to fall in love with him or her. Thanks to watching all my mom's many failed relationships I decided that one night stands were better than having my heartbroken a million times. Who knew it would take a Vulcan to teach me how to love."

"You had male partners before my counterpart?" That was the only thing the other Spock got out of that statement? He was surprised.

"Of course, both of my prom dates in high school were guys. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed sex with women a lot, but I always had better emotional relationships with guys. Maybe it's because I usually have more in common with my male partners. The only women I have a healthy emotional relationship with are my sister in law and Ny. Notice that I never slept with either of them."

"I am not surprised because your counterpart was very close to Uhura in the other timeline. However, you were really not that close to Aurelan in the other timeline."

"I don't know anybody name Aurelan. My sister-in-laws name is Akia not Aurelan. She's three years older than Sam and ironically enough a gynecologist now. They got married when Sam was in college after he got her pregnant because he lied about being on the male birth control shot. Let's just say now she make sure all her patients use backup contraceptives."

"You are not worried about encountering the glass ceiling for LGBPT Starfleet members?" He can't believe that a certain sneaky Vulcan just change the subject like that after he revealed a little too much about the other timeline. However, in the interest of getting to what they really need to talk about he'll let it go.

"Step dad number two was a Starfleet closet case. He drove me crazy with psychological torture when I was at the Academy post divorce. He pretty much married my mom as his cover so he could become a captain more quickly. What was truly ironic was he finally received his promotion to captain after he came out and married his longtime lover after divorcing my mom after she caught him sleeping with said best friend. He received a promotion to Admiral a couple of months ago. I hope he doesn't work with us. I can't stand him."

"That was unfortunate for your mother."

"it taught me an important life lesson. It's more important to be myself than to be something I am not just to get ahead. I rather have the other you until I'm old and gray then some wonderful career in Starfleet." He was almost positive he saw a Spock version of a smile from the alternate version of his significant other, but he returned to his normal stoic state of expression before Jim could be sure. Instead of asking about the smile, he decided to continue on speaking.

"That breakup was so messy that their captain had to assign both parties to separate ships. I'm trying to avoid doing that with the current situation with Lieutenant Commander Scott and Nyota."

"What happened between Nyota and the Leutenant? I thought things were going quite well for the two. 9.3 days ago Nyota informed me that she and Leutenant Commander Scott were moving in together. Did something happened?"

He really wasn't that surprise Ny was friends with the other version of Spock. Her being practically best friends with any version of Spock must be some sort of universal constant just like him and Spock being together. Although he did wonder if the older version of Spock had a sexual relationship with the other universes version of Ny. He did not ask because honestly he really didn't want to know. He did not even want to ask if Scotty and Ny had a relationship in the other dimension. Besides he really doubts that other Spock would tell him.

"Unfortunately, 9.2 days ago she walked in on him fu—screwing my yeoman in engineering." He finds it deeply ironic that this version of Spock had the same expression as the other version of Spock in relation to the situation. He looked 30 seconds from strangling somebody.

"That is most unfortunate. Maybe it would be prudent to transfer Mr. Scott to another vassal." He could definitely sensed the Vulcan anger from this Spock.

"That's what Pike suggested. I was hoping you could provide me with an alternate solution. I really don't want to lose my engineer if I can help it. However, if I have to choose Scotty is gone."

"You could transfer Nyota."

"Did you not just hear me say that I would prefer to keep Ny over Scotty? Besides if I send Nyota to another ship I'll be sleeping on the couch for months. The other you is very protective of her."

"I'm aware of your preference and my counterpart's. I did not mean a permanent transfer, but rather a detail assignment. I will soon be entering into various negotiations on behalf of New Vulcan with the assistance of a Starfleet representative for 3.2 months. I'm sure Admiral Pike would be willing to assign Leutenant Uhura as the Starfleet representative due to her familiarity with the languages and cultures of the planets I will be working with in addition to her negotiating skills. I prefer to work with a friend since my wedding will most likely occur near the end or possibly during the 3.2 months." That bit of information shocked him. He was hoping that after he was gone Spock wouldn't move on. He did not want Spock to fall in love again.

"Who is the lucky individual?" He said purposely staying gender neutral because he knows just like his Spock the older version doesn't care about the gender of his partner.

"I do not know yet. Although, I must find a suitable mate soon."

"Why are you getting married if you don't love — pon far," he said, determining the reason instantly. The look Spock gave him told him he was right. Then he began to worry about his Spock having to go through this without him once he was gone. The thought made him a little sick. Then he wondered about his Spock actually having to marry someone just to preserve his life if he was not around. The thought was painful. He wondered if Nyota would be an alternate if he wasn't around when his Spock's time came.

"Unfortunately," Spock said with an annoyed eyebrow.

"I will talk to Ny about becoming your assistant for a few months as soon as I can, but I probably should bring alcohol. I'm sure she would love to do it. You are like her other best friend. She will probably go with you just to play matchmaker. She did a good job with me. Knowing her there's no way she will let you marry someone that you could not possibly love."

"It is something you should discuss with her. I'm sure that Nyota, no matter what dimension she is in, will not like someone else making a major decision for her. You should also discuss the situation with your first officer. It is his place to help you in command decisions such as these."

"Why do you always have to be right?"

"I am only being logical."

* * *

**The present**

Nyota was sitting against the cool tiles of the guest restroom for the second time that morning after emptying the contents of her stomach. Thing one and thing two apparently did not like the vegetarian cuisine for breakfast. She should have stuck to saltines and ginger ale.

At least the babies waited until after Spock did the scans for Dr. McCoy before they caused her to run into the restroom again. Of course this was after he called three times for the scans. He was way too overprotective of her and this pregnancy. He was almost acting like it was his kid. When she told him about her increase in baby sickness he theorized that the atmosphere on New Vulcan was a major contributing factor. She personally did not think that was it.

This was not her first time on New Vulcan. During their first two years in space, they made several runs to the planet to deliver refugees and supplies to the colony that was slowly becoming like any other populated urban planet. Not once did she get sick when she was on the planet surface, not even when she stayed on the planet for a three straight days for Sarek's wedding to T'Pay.

A few years later she stayed on the planet during a detail for two consecutive weeks when she was helping a certain friend deal with a biological imperative. Honestly there was no way she was letting any version of her best friend marry someone that didn't love him just because of some need to have sex or die. If she didn't get sick then because of the atmosphere then she doesn't expect it to cause her to live in front of the toilet right now.

She could hear little Amanda and Spock arguing in the next room as she waited for the next round of throwing up to begin again. Amanda wanted to where her "hug me, I'm Vulcan" T shirt that a certain ex of hers had specially designed for the little girl, but Spock said no. Then she tried to where her "daddy's little princess, other daddy's headache" T shirt with matching sparkly shoes. Instead of saying no outright Spock told her, "Vulcans do not wear glitter".

That led to more arguing and a little screaming on Amanda's part. Even very stern Vulcans are not immune to puppy dog eyes and the tears of little girls. Knowing Amanda the puppy dog eyes were in full effect. After 5 minutes of crying, Spock agreed to let her wear the shirt but she would wear different shoes. His logic was because he now had a headache it would be okay for her to wear such a shirt.

Of course Mandy wasn't done yet.

"Daddy, can I have a tattoo?" She would start laughing but Amanda's siblings were making her too sick to do that. She wished she got to see the look on Spock's face when she asked that question.

"No" Spock said in his normal stern voice.

"Daddy, can I have a tattoo?" She asked again.

"No," he answered again with a little more irritation entering his voice. Irritation in his voice by Spock standards. His tone was marginally more clip and an octave higher than normal. She was sure one eyebrow was approaching his hairline.

"Daddy, can I have a tattoo?" She asked again with an even more whiny voice

"I have already said no and it is illogical to continue asking."

"Why?" despite being baby sick she was laughing at that point.

"Because Vulcans do not mutilate her or his body." Did he seriously have to use that excuse? Especially in this case where it was a bit hypocritical of him to say that. She Wondered if baby Amanda ever saw the picture of her daddy Spock wearing an eyebrow ring after she successfully convinced him to do it.

"Daddy has a tattoo."

"Not by choice." Spock said in a whisper. Nobody talked about the fact that Jim had a series of numbers tattooed on his body similar to those worn by 20th century holocaust survivors. "If you stop asking about the tattoo I will let you where your glitter shoes." Spock said with a sigh.

"Yeh, sparkly shoes. I love sparkly shoes." She heard the little girl say happily not mentioning Jim's Tarsus IV souvenir. Yes Nyota knew about Tarsus IV. She, Spock and Dr. McCoy were the only ones who knew that Jim got sent to that horrible place to live with family right before the famine because Winona was too obsessed with her career and her new significant other at the time to actually take care of her son. She is also pretty sure that Sam knocking up Akia by lying to her probably force the issue. Winona couldn't leave her youngest child with someone that irresponsible.

"Are all mornings always like that with her? I usually do not have to engage in major negotiations to get my daughter dressed in the morning. Although I am sure that Spock's negotiating skills have improved greatly because of it." T'Pay said to her as she handed her another ginger ale. She must have just returned from taking T'Mandy to school.

"Yes. This is what happens when the two most stubborn men that I have ever met have a child together. She's just as stubborn as both of them combined, but she has the puppy dog eyes." She was expecting T'Pay to ask what juvenile canines had to do with anything, but the question never came. Probably due to her time on earth she was familiar with that particular earth saying. Also she was pretty sure Spock ask questions like that just to mess with everyone's head. Spock had a very twisted sense of humor even if only her and Jim knew about it.

"This morning's behavior was relatively mild for her. At least the princess dress didn't come back out again. This is why we take turns dressing her in the morning. I think Jim went with your husband just so he could get out of this morning's routine." Anything's possible with Jim. He could deal with psychotic Romulans but not his own daughter.

"I think my husband wants to apologize for yesterday's uncomfortable atmosphere. He was under the impression that excuse for a Vulcan could be civilized for an afternoon. Unfortunately, she did not have that much class."

"Even if she could act civilized, I couldn't. I can't stand that woman. I already hated her for cheating on Spock when they were supposedly engaged. He just as easily could have cheated on her but he didn't. I wasn't the only girl or guy for that matter trying to get with him back then."

"I could see that happening on earth where individuals are less superficial. He is just as aesthetically pleasing as his mother was." She found it slightly peculiar that T'Pay made that statement about Spock's late mother and not her current husband.

"Last night was horrible. I haven't sat through anything that tense since Jim and Spock's rehearsal dinner when the very pregnant Akia had to sit next to her soon to be ex husband and his new girlfriend Aurelan. He's actually marrying her soon. Jim received the invitation right before we left Enterprise. I think he is planning for us to be in deep space that week. "

"Yes that was quite an unpleasant dinner. I was under the impression that even by human standards such a thing was distasteful."

"Very distasteful." She wondered if T'Pay knew about the knockdown drag out fight between Jim and his brother after the reception the next day. There was also the more entertaining Vulcan version of fighting that occurred between Jim and the other version of his husband when he suggested that his brother's new relationship was a sign that the timeline was correcting itself. As she dwelled on the memories of Jim and Spock's highly dysfunctional wedding her thoughts were broken by Amanda screaming again.

"Why can't I stay with Ny? I wanna stay with Ny. Daddy please let me stay with Aunt Nyota." She was sure Amanda broke out that Kirk signature pout guaranteed to make any Spock do whatever she wants. Just then they walked near the bathroom and she could actually see for herself that the pout was being deployed.

"Don't you want to see the campus where grandma T'Pay works?" She added trying to back Spock up. She knew Spock needed all the help he could get when Jim was not around to back him up.

"No. T'Pay is not my grandma anyway." For a Vulcan T'Pay looked very upset at that comment.

"There's no need for her to come along. We will be going over the history of Vulcan mating practices in one of my classes." She's almost positive "mating practices" is code for pon far but doesn't say anything. "I don't believe that is appropriate subject matter for a three year old. Maybe it would be best if you stayed with your aunt Nyota and I will bring my son with us instead. I can drop him off at the daycare on campus when I'm in class." It was obvious she was upset because she used contractions. The only time she has ever heard Vulcans use contractions is when they are angry. After being in a romantic or platonic relationship with Spock for more than a decade she is well aware that Vulcans do become angry.

"That's good." Amanda said as she started to cheer and smile not picking up on the subtle change in T'Pay's demeanor and speech pattern. She was too busy getting her Barbie from her temporary room to think about anything else.

"She didn't mean anything by it. She's three. She says all sorts of things." She said trying to make T'Pay feel better. She tried to remember how many times during the early years she said things like that to her mom Alexis when she didn't get her way.

"There's nothing to apologize for. I am not Lady Amanda. It is impossible for me to take the place of her deceased grandmother. Excuse me; I need to prepare my son for our journey." She said excusing herself from the awkward moment. When situations like this happened when she was a child, Alexis would usually say something like that except in her case it was, "I cannot take the place of her dead mother."

It was not even 9:00 AM yet planet time and the day was already shaping up to be as uncomfortable as yesterday. She was already mentally counting down the days until they left for earth. Then she remembered that they were bringing the two little vulcans with them. She would cry if she didn't hear the Comm unit signal an incoming long-range transmission.

Since she was feeling less likely to throw up now she check the portable unit and realize the transmission was coming from Jim's former sister in law Akia. Akia was seven years older than Jim and considered one of the best OB/GYNs in the galaxy. They got along well partially because they were both from Africa but from different parts. Akia's family move to the States a few generations ago from the area formally known as Uganda. Nyota grew up in what was once known as Kenya and later in the area formally known as South Africa before spending her teenage years in London.

"How's the baby treating you this time around?" Akia said as she turned on the screen of the main communications unit.

"How do you know about that? We're waiting to tell the family."

"Jim thought it would be best if Dr. McCoy consulted with a specialist due to the delicate nature of the pregnancy. He trusts Akia completely." Spock said sitting next to her.

"I was personally thinking complicated pregnancy. Only my little brother and his husband could be involved in something like this. You're carrying twins created from three sets of DNA that were made the old fashioned way. Don't give me any details of how the twins were created, I just can't think of someone I've known since he was 13 in those terms."

"I know you didn't call to talk about the pregnancy otherwise you would wait until your regular schedule time when the children are home from school so they can drive their uncle crazy. What is going on?"

"Where is my little brother?"

"He is with my father."

"So your dad didn't want any witnesses around when he tried to kill him?" She asked as a joke.

"My father would do no such thing."

"You're right. He would have did that before the wedding if he really had murderous intentions. You know that mommy Kirk has been trying to talk to Jim for the last few days.

"Yes she is getting quite desperate as she called me yesterday." Spock does not get along with his mother-in-law very well for various reasons. The major reason was she didn't show up to their wedding.

"Yet Jimmy hasn't called her back yet. Guys it is really important that Jim calls her. She needs to talk to him."

"I don't see why. You know the entire time he was growing up she chose to stay in space instead of with her son. She could have filed papers for Jim to stay with her on the Clinton because there was no one else, but instead she sent him to…" She was cut off by Akia before she could say too much.

"I know where she sent him. I know what happened. I was the only one that he would talk to when he came back."

"Jim doesn't owe her a thing." Nyota said in anger.

"Trust me I know better than anyone how dysfunctional their relationship is, but I wouldn't be calling if it was not important."

"I am inclined to agree with Nyota. My husband owes nothing to a woman who decided not to attend our wedding or visit her only granddaughter."

"I know that she hasn't always done the best thing in regards to Jimmy, but there are circumstances that you are unaware of and I can't tell you about. Just please have Jim call her." With that, Akia ended the communication.

**

* * *

**

3.8 years ago

Winona Kirk sat in the office of her third ex waiting for him to return with her test results. (She kept the last name Kirk because she had already had several academic journal articles published under that last name and it is almost impossible to change your name in Starfleet without encountering a mountain of bureaucratic red tape.) She had no idea why she was here because Akia was so cryptic. Yet she was there at the urging of her soon to be former daughter in law who also happen to be a gynecologist.

Yesterday she and Akia were shopping for dresses for her youngest son's wedding. She was actually looking forward to the wedding for the simple fact that Jimmy actually invited her. Her relationship with her youngest son has always been problematic, but more so since the breakup of her fourth marriage. Jimmy was still angry that she decided to leave the one husband of hers that he actually liked.

She absolutely loved Akia, but their first shopping trip since her son decided to leave his pregnant wife of over 16 years for someone else was uncomfortable. Things became worse after she accidentally mentioned that Sam was bringing his new girlfriend to Jimmy's wedding. She didn't even think she cried that much when she caught that dick Frank fucking her best friend since kindergarten into the mattress. So desperate to keep Akia from breaking down in the middle of the showroom she decided to ask her a medical question. In passing, she mentions unusual bleeding that occurs after she has sex with her husband. Before she even finished speaking the woman who was practically a daughter to her was dialing the number of the best Xenoncologist on earth, who happen to be her most recent ex husband.

An hour ago he greeted her with a smile and a hug and try to reassure her that Akia was just being unbelievably paranoid. They actually got along pretty well for two people who used to be married to each other. Of course now she knows that Akia was not being paranoid.

"I really don't know how to tell you this Winona, but you have cervical cancer." She must've heard him wrong. That can't be right. This is not possible.

"That's not even possible. No one has had cervical cancer in almost a century. Cervical cancer is just like polio. Both diseases were eradicated by vaccines."

"Yes it is true that thanks to the creation of a universal HPV vaccine in the middle of the 21st century cervical cancer has become something only mentioned in history books until recently. It is so rare that we don't even screen for it anymore. Children stopped receiving HPV vaccines at the turn of this century, which it turns out was a bad decision. Unfortunately, according to FCDC there has been 12 confirmed cases of Cervical cancer throughout the federation in the last 13.6 months. There has been seven confirmed cases of cervical cancer on earth alone with two cases on New Vulcan discovered in females who immigrated to the planet and one on earth colony II. Also according to FCDC at least two members of Starfleet of have been confirmed to have the disease. It looks like you are patient 13."

"I have a type of cancer caused by a virus that has practically been nonexistent for centuries?"

"It's making a comeback. Unfortunately the virus was not completely eradicated as we once thought. It seems that there is a somewhat similar virus to HPV that is common to the Orion population. We are referring to this disease as OPV or Orion Papillomavirus. We are unsure how it happened but there's been 200 confirmed cases of OPV in humans on earth alone. We do not know how this new string will affect humans."

"So you're saying I managed to catch some Orion STI from my current husband?" There is no way he would do that to her. He loved her.

"Not necessarily. If the incubation period needed for OPV to develop into cervical cancer is similar to the time needed for HPV to develop to such a state you could have been infected when you were married to Frank and had no clue. There is no real way at present to know when you contracted the virus."

"What about…"

"I already had my lab assistant run the newly created OPV test on me and she didn't find any signs of the virus. Most likely my immune system fought it off if I contracted it."

"How lucky for you." She said halfway sarcastically. She was happy that he was not infected but was angry that she was. For all she knew he could have gave this to her, but she doubted it.

"You should be happy Akia just attended a seminar where they reviewed the symptoms related to cervical cancer. That's why she made you come see me. It's a good thing because the sooner we begin treatment the better." She was about to cry until he said that. As every other time she encountered some hardship she would focus on the mission until things were good again. This time the mission was getting better.

"How do we treat this?"

"Most doctors have been treating the disease similar to the way it would have been treated during the 21st century. Most of the patients have been responding well to treatment. The Xenoncology community is uncertain if more modern techniques will be able to effectively fight the disease. Unfortunately some types of cancer just don't respond to newer methods. Since all the women who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer were in the advance stages because we don't screen for it any more, most doctors have been afraid to try treatments that have been untested unless absolutely necessary."

"What do you mean by advanced stage?"

"Just like the earlier incarnation of the cancer the modern version does not have symptoms until it reaches the advance stages of the disease. The later the disease is detected the harder it is to treat the cancer."

"We have a fight on our hands?"

"Yes, but you have always been a fighter. It must be genetic. Tomorrow will begin the chemotherapy and radiation. Look on the bright side, modern chemotherapy and radiation treatments do not cause you to lose your hair anymore and cannabis is now completely legal for medical use. You can even have most of your chemotherapy treatments done in the privacy of your own home. Akia probably can administer the drugs. I know she's staying with you now that she is finalizing the divorce." He seemed to be trying too hard to be cheery. He always did that when he was trying to hide something from her.

"Now give me the bad news Damien."

"Your immune system is going to be too compromised for you to attend the wedding. You may even be too weak to see the new babies after they are born."

"Jim is going to kill me for missing his wedding."

"I think he'll understand when you tell him you have cancer."

"I'm not going to tell him."

"What?"

"I'm not going to ruin his wedding or the birth of his new child with me being sick. It's better if he just thinks I was too busy to come like when I miss school events when he was growing up. If I tell Jimmy I have to tell Sam and I really don't want to talk to him after what he did to Akia. I just can't deal with it right now. Let me beat this first"

"You need your family. I understand wanting to wait to after the wedding…"

"I have you and Akia. I don't want anyone else to know. It's better that way. I don't want either of my sons to find out until it's almost time for me to see George again."

"As someone who used to be a member of your family I think you're making a big mistake. Jim is going to be furious when he finds out. However, as your doctor I will respect your wishes and will not inform my former stepsons that their mother has advance cervical cancer. I'll even make up a really good excuse at the wedding for why you're not there."

"Thank you."

Thank me when we beat this.

* * *

**Bonus questions: **What do the acronyms FCDC and LGBPT stand for?

After reading the chapter you are aware that Nyota slept with the other version of Spock to guarantee that he would not enter into a loveless marriage that he does not want to have just because of Pon Far. **The winners are Zarra Rous, MyriadProBold, Isabel Woods, MirrorFlower and DarkWind.**

* * *

A/N: I based much of the information on HPV in this chapter on information found on the CDC website. However, like all good science fiction writers I played with the information a little.


	7. Conversations with Vulcans

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Sorry I had unbelievably nasty writer's block on this chapter and then I got sick.

I would like to thank my new beta Teddy Bear for the assistance.

The answers to the last bonus questions are:

**FCDC**=Federation Center for Disease Control

**LGBTP**=Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (or Transsexual), Pansexual

Full credit goes to Rose

Partial credit goes to whitetigercub and Madam President

* * *

**Chapter 7:** Conversations with Vulcans That You Don't Want To Have

Akia stood at the Comm screen pissed at her pseudo little brother. The guy she's known since he was 13 is probably 1000 times more stubborn then her ex husband ever was. Only her former mother-in-law was worse forcing everyone to keep her cancer diagnosis a closely kept secret. Akia hoped her children did not inherit the 'stubborn as a mule' gene, but she doubted it.

Part of her wondered if Jim just made his husband and friend cover for him, but nobody would believe Jim was willingly spending time with the father in law unless it was true. Jim's relationship with Sarek was only slightly better than his relationship with Winona. That basically meant Jim could be on the same planet as his father in law for small periods of time without a screaming match occurring. That may have something to do with the Vulcan DNA more than anything else.

Mother and son needed closure before it became too late. They were running at a time, not that Jim knew that. Once again, fate seemed to completely fuck over Winona Kirk.

Winona was terminal and hundreds of years of improvement in the treatment of cancer couldn't save her. Because they stopped testing decades ago for HPV or any similar virus, they simply caught it too late. In the 21st century, Winona probably would have been dead within a few weeks or even months of diagnosis. Modern medicine gave her almost four years.

Winona could have used this time to repairing her relationship with Jimmy and getting to know her youngest granddaughter. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Winona Kirk is probably the most stubborn woman Akia has ever met. Akia barely survived one divorce and Winona survive four including the one to the last selfish ass that left her two months ago because he became tired of watching his wife slowly die. Akia believes Winona survive simply because she was too stubborn to let it hurt her. Akia was sure Jim didn't know about the most recent divorce yet.

Winona didn't want anybody to know she was sick and therefore she never got to see her youngest grand baby. Akia knew for a fact she wouldn't live long enough for the twins to be born unless they got a miracle. So much wasted time because of stupidity. After being part of this family from nearly two decades, she still does not understand the Kirk mentality to act like idiots.

Winona's health was deteriorating fast, too fast really. Yesterday she had at least enough energy to call Spock and tried to be a less obviously sick. Today Winona didn't have that much strength and Akia decided it was time to take things in her own hands. If things kept up like this there wouldn't be anybody for Jimmy to talk too soon.

"Uncle Jimmy was not there?" Her oldest son Landon asked as she walked into Winona's bedroom. (Her ex wanted to name him Peter Bart, but she said no.) Again, the stubborn woman didn't want to be in a hospital so one of the rooms in the old farmhouse was converted.

"Now he wasn't. We'll try later." She said taking the seat next to her son.

"Do we have a later?" He was always one for bluntness.

"I hope we do. I think I should call your father anyway. He should be here." She wasn't happy about it, but he had a right to know his mom was dying. It wasn't like she wanted to talk to the guy who left her for another woman when she was pregnant.

"Like hell." Her oldest child said angrily in a loud voice.

"Don't be too loud. She needs to rest. She is his mother."

"Yeah, like he cares about anything but himself. He's too busy with his future wife and their new baby to remember his other family. You know the home wrecker is pregnant. The ass probably wouldn't show up even if we were actually having her funeral. He doesn't give a fuck. It's not like he ever calls. Uncle Jim is on the other side the galaxy the majority of the time and still calls." She should probably correct his language, but doesn't feel like it.

"I don't want to talk about it. This isn't the time." She said in a hushed tone. Unfortunately, her voice was drowned out by the sound of one of the monitors forcing her to go instantly in to doctor mode.

* * *

Since he was a small child such a long time ago, Spock has always been fascinated with the concept of nature vs. nurture. He believes that the fact he was raised to be solely Vulcan was more important than his human DNA. The presence of his Jim Kirk probably has a more profound effect on his personality than any other presence.

Even though he has encountered alternate dimensions before he truly did not understand the true role that one's upbringing and circumstances would on a person's personality until he met alternate versions of the people he knew best. The Jim Kirk of this dimension was for all intensive purposes a completely different person just because of one simple change.

On the molecular level, this dimension's Jim Kirk was the same as his dimension's Jim Kirk, but because of a lifetime of painful experiences the Jim Kirk in this alternate reality was a completely different person. This dimension's version of Jim Kirk was raising a happy family with the Spock of this dimension. A small illogical part of the older Spock wished his Jim could have come to that realization at such a young age. However, wishing was illogical. He couldn't change the past. Actually, he did change the past, but he couldn't change his past.

It really amazes him how much has been change by the presence of one deeply troubled Romulan. The technology in this reality was almost a full 100 years ahead of where it should be. According to conversations with this dimensions version of his father and counterpart prejudice and xenophobia on Vulcan was much worse pre destruction and therefore his counterpart was exposed to more vicious persecution.

The Jim Kirk of this time who was absolutely terrified of relationships, still managed to fall in love with his counterpart because he still had hope. In this time line, neither individual ran away from their feelings.

However, the greatest change in this reality was the little girl now standing in front of him looking at him curiously. She had Jim's eyes, his real eyes. She had his ears or rather the other Spock's ears. She was the child he secretly wanted, but never had the opportunity to have.

"Why do you look like my daddy?" Asked the bright little girl standing behind a now wide eyed Nyota in a house that looks like an exact replica of the house he grew up in on Vulcan. The only thing missing was the divided in fat gram Paul the aroma of his mother's perfume.

"Amanda what did your daddy Jim say, about asking inappropriate questions?" Nyota asked in exasperation at the little girl.

"Don't do it in front of granddad and don't ask the Shrek question again?" That definitely sound like something this dimension's Jim would say.

"That is all right. I am elder Selek. I'm a relative of your father Spock and a friend of your father Jim." He said using the cover that he has become accustomed to after almost nine years. Due to the extreme resemblance between himself and his younger counterpart, a family connection was automatically assumed. He hoped the sharp child would believe his explanation.

Even though she was the daughter of Jim and his younger self, he doubted the three year old could understand the concept of an alternate reality yet. However, if she was like her father Jim she was full of surprises.

"Daddy Jim is not here. Are you aunt Ny's friend too? He went with grandpa to the council place. Grandpa is on the council too but he had to work today. Why are you not at work?" Amanda asked as he walked into the house as the excited little girl dragged him in by the sleeve to the couches. She was a very energetic child.

"Yes I am a friend of your aunt's. I took time off from work so I could spend time with my friends."

"Can I hug you since you are family?"

"I find that agreeable." He said right before the three year old wrapped an arm around his legs.

"That's so adorable. I will send you a copy…" Nyota said capturing an image of the scene. Suddenly he noticed her become very distressed and ran to where the facilities would be if this house completely followed the plans of the old one.

"Little one, is your aunt unwell?" He asked moving to one of the comfortable couches. He was somewhat surprised Sarek decided to use earth style furniture again. Then again, he knew Professor T'Pay prefer things from earth.

"She's fine. She is just pregnant. Do you want to play Barbies with me?" The little girl said clutching a doll with a Vulcan haircut and pointy ears.

Considering they communicated with each other almost daily, Spock was completely unaware of the circumstances or even the fact that his friend was pregnant. Because Jim mentioned that he and his counterparts were not planning on having another child until after the current mission was completed, Spock must assumed this was an unplanned shore leave related pregnancy. Such a thing seemed illogical considering how meticulous he knew his friend was when it came to contraceptives.

"Maybe after we have tea, when your aunt is feeling better, and she can join us. Do you know how long she has been pregnant?"

"Nine weeks. Uncle bones said it was an accident. but I am happy because I'm getting a new brother and sister. Do you think the new babies will play Barbies with me?" He was slightly surprised to hear such a thing however, he was aware that the three had an unusual relationship.

"I'm sure they will as soon as they stop making me throw up. If you go upstairs now I will make your daddy Spock playing tea party with you tonight. He can teach your aunt how to play."

"I want to play with elder Selek." Young Amanda said in a semi whiny voice.

"I promise we'll come up stairs when we're done having tea. You won't like the tea we are drinking because it's not your tea."

"You promise?"

"I promise." With that, the little girl made her way to the upper levels of the home.

"I guess congratulations are in order," he said quietly.

"So you heard?"

"That you are carrying my counterpart or Jim's child. I am somewhat confused about how that happened." Confusion was a slight understatement.

"More like, I'm carrying Spock and Jim's children simultaneously." He blinked at that, but showed no other visible signs of being surprised.

"If it wasn't for the fact I am technically from another dimension, I would find this surprising. I have learned long ago that there is no such thing as a surprise on Enterprise, especially when Jim Kirk is involved."

"That's the truth. Did you ever end up on a polygamous planet with special fertility drugs that allowed for three people to contribute to the creation of a child? The people on this planet also had no trouble whatsoever engineering biological weapons or getting someone pregnant against their consent the modified old fashioned way." Nyota asked as they walked into the kitchen and she grabbed herself a ginger ale. He could tell that she was agitated about the pregnancy, but he was unsure as to why.

"No we never ran across such a planet during my time on Enterprise. How are you dealing with being pregnant again?"

"As well as anybody, who accidentally got pregnant by aliens. I keep telling myself that I'm just the surrogate mother again and I'm just doing this as a favor to a friend. Jim and Amanda are so excited about the baby. Your counterpart is excited too, but he shows his excitement by asking to touch my stomach every 30.3 minutes. I just want to survive this pregnancy without being confined to my bed and for the last two months or throwing up on diplomats. I guess it's too late for that since I threw up on Sarek yesterday."

"I'm not sure family counts. The situation could be much worse."

"Yes the aliens could be used the ass as the sperm donor. Good things he wasn't part of the away team." She said with a shudder. It was obvious that Nyota still harbored some animosity torch her former boyfriend. "I guess I should be glad I'm the one caring the two babies. Who knows what type of technology they have on that planet. I don't think I could deal with a pregnant Jim."

"Indeed,"

* * *

Spock was apprehensive about returning to the Vulcan Science Academy and for some odd reason wished Nyota would have come with him. She had the ability to center him just like Jim but not to the same degree. He has not stepped foot in the place since his decision not to go there. Then he remembers that he is not going to the same Vulcan Science Academy. That place no longer exists.

As the transporter pulled in front of the school, Spock could instantly see the only thing similar to its previous incarnation is the name. The building looks more like Starfleet Academy or any other college campus on earth then what he grew up seeing on the Vulcan of his youth.

The architecture was a mix of steel and glass that could be assembled much more quickly than a traditional Vulcan structure. Maybe that is why the first institute of higher learning built on New Vulcan had these particular design features. He was sure the newer buildings on the campus would eventually be more traditional.

Inside the building that was no more than five years old was a mix student body. If he were not Vulcan, he would be shocked to see young Vulcans interacting with individuals of various species throughout the federation.

"You are surprise?" T'Pay asked him as they made their way to the day care center. He would argue that Vulcans do not become surprised, if he were dealing with anybody but his stepmother. T'Pay much like his daughter did not believe in absolutes. He remembered his mother saying that about the woman when they became friends some 20 years earlier.

"I was not expecting to see such a diverse student body. Before, the school was 99.1% Vulcan." T'Pay mentioned nothing about the diverse makeup of the school on the way over. Mostly he and his stepmother talked about what she knew about the T'Pring situation avoided talking about Amanda's comment earlier. T'Pay was completely and unaware of what Sarek was finding that night before because he blocked it from her. T'Pay confirmed that T'Pring was using the legal status of her son to extort money and other things from Sarek.

"This is not the same Vulcan Science Academy or Vulcan for that matter. Those values passed away the same moment our planet did. Most of the survivors of our race did not reside on Vulcan, but rather other planets. I cannot speak for the others, but I was on earth because I felt more comfortable there. I was not expected to maintain values I did not believe in even if my father felt that I should. Yes, I see the value in logic and meditation, but I also see value in smiling and talking out once frustrations." If he had not known his stepmother since before she became his stepmother he would be surprised by the fact she felt uncomfortable in any setting.

"I also felt more comfortable on earth even if I was expected to be the sole representative of my entire species most of the time. There was only a 1.3 percent probability on Vulcan that I would meet anyone who understood me like James or even Nyota. Neither individual expects me to be anything other than myself."

"You are lucky to find someone who loves you like that. I've never found such a thing." He understood her statement. Spock knew that her marriage was a business arrangement so his father would not marry someone he could not stand but considering their friendship part of him thought something was there.

"I will admit I was expecting to encounter the same attitudes I encountered in my youth." Spock said changing the subject quickly. Maybe he did not want to know the details of his father's third marriage. "Yesterday's experience with your child care provider and others made me wonder how much has truly changed."

"That explains your anxiety about coming here. You have a valid point. It is illogical to deny that prejudice still exist on the colony, however education is the best chance we have of eliminating that prejudice. Creating an all inclusive student body is the first step. The majority of us, who were in charge of rebuilding the university, taught on other planets and understood the importance of diversity. We did not want our people to become isolationists. Isolation creates prejudice. Prejudice left unchecked led to most wars."

"That is logical. However, that cannot be the only reason?"

"The disparity in the population is also an issue. At present, there are only around 5000 Vulcans who are at the correct age range for this institution; currently we can support 20,000 students. In 10 years there will be 70,000 Vulcans and these students will need teachers beyond computerize learning bowls. These teachers well need to come from other populations. We the board of directors of the Vulcan science academy decided that the new academy would accept the best and brightest students no matter where they come from. The same goes for faculty."

"I doubt education and a more open relationship with other species will help individuals with deep prejudice such as my former bond mate."

"That is mostly because that Vulcans is a wretched individual who used her child to manipulate your father into giving her a very important job. That despicable individual is a disgrace to any species. However, she is not a representative of everyone else here. It is true not everyone is happy with the changes occurring on new Vulcan. They want to cling to the old ways even if it means the extinction of our people as a whole. Others understand that to survive we must change. Are you aware that there are three other human Vulcan hybrid children in T'Mandy's class alone?"

"I was unaware of that fact. I thought that the council will be pushing for the idea they held previously. My hypothesis was supported by what my sister said yesterday. " He said as they walked into the day care facilities. He was slightly shocked to see bright colors and toys from many different cultures along with several day care workers who were expatriates of earth and several other planets.

As soon as his brother was safely inside the walls of the day care facility, his stepmother became a completely different person. She instantly became Professor T'Pay. It never ceases to amaze Spock how different person can be when they are in their element. For example the moment his husband steps on the bridge the person who plays Barbies with their daughter and tries to convince Spock to have sex in various places in the turbo left disappears and becomes the quintessential Captain even if he doesn't follow Starfleet regulations all the time.

When T'Pay walked into a classroom, she was confident and ready to speak about the subject at hand with anyone. The first class was an upper level psychology class on the Vulcan mind fill with premedical students from everywhere in the federation. He was shocked to see so many Non-Vulcans learning to treat the Vulcan body.

He should not have been surprise based on his earlier conversation with T'Pay. It was only logical. The majority of the Vulcan population was under the age of nine. Very few medical professionals that specialized in Vulcan physiology survived the destruction of the planet. With the rapid population growth basic services such as Medical Care needed to be provided for even if it meant depending on others. The repopulation of the Vulcan race was depended on that.

His suspicions were confirmed with a conversation with his step mother's assistant in between classes. She was human and was quite disappointed that she would not be watching Amanda during this class. Apparently, Dr. Catalina has heard very interesting things about the young child and wanted the opportunity to observe Amanda first hand.

The second class of the day was intro to Vulcan sexuality. He should have known something was special about this class when everyone had to turn in a confidentiality form before entering the room. If he had feelings, he would feel as mortified as he did that one time when his three-year-old daughter walked in on him seconds from unzipping his husband's pants when he saw the word pon far displayed on the screens in front of the class. If he were entirely human, he would have the sudden urge to crawl under a desk or create artificial black hole to swallow him when his stepmother asked him to recount his own experience for the sake of scientific exploration. He didn't care that he was partially Vulcan when his stepmother saw Jim's last text message to him. His husband would be in trouble tonight.

* * *

Jim wasn't sure what he was expecting but it probably wasn't a building that seems better suited to the architectural styles of San Francisco then what he remembered seeing in his textbooks about old Vulcan architecture. The Vulcan council headquarters seemed the epitome of 23rd century earth architecture. There were no high ceilings, glass windows, or arc architecture anywhere. He wasn't sure if that was a practical decision due to the need to construct the buildings quickly or if it was a more emotion based decision that there would be few are reminders of what no longer existed.

They were so busy in those first two years when bringing relief supplies to the colony Jim really never had time to look at what was being built. This morning as he was shoved from meeting to meeting by his father in law's much nicer very human assistant, he noticed how earth like this place was. It gave him something to do when he was trying to find more about his husband's almost ex wife. Of course, it wasn't like the place was filled with neon pink, but it wasn't exactly what he had in mind from the images that he has seen in his husband's mind or that of the mind of the other Spock.

He told his husband how unVulcan the place looked as they exchanged text messages. It wasn't like he had anything else to do during the boring meetings. His father in law had the good sense to keep him away from T'Pring and Jim wasn't stupid enough to start questions in front of his father in law. (He travels a zillion light years to spend his vacation doing exactly what he would have done if he was working. Maybe tomorrow they can go to a zoo or something. Even before the original Vulcan was destroyed he doubted there would be amusement Parks on any planet inhabited by Vulcans. If it wasn't for the angry wall sex yesterday this vacationwith completely suck. At least his father in law hasn't tried to kill him yet.)

Yes, he and Spock could have communicated with each other through the link but driving his husband absolutely crazy with text messages was so much more fun. He usually does it during the boring diplomatic meetings or sometimes on the bridge when they're doing something boring like mapping stars when he can't get away with hand sex in public. With a three-year-old daughter who was way too smart for her own good and a ship to run sometimes text sex on the bridge was the only action he was getting.

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer: **Don't you have anything better than to do then send me these infantile messages? I'm trying to observe a lecture that I preferred not to be at.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la: **Not really. Can't find out anything about the bitch, because, your dad is making me sit through boring meetings. I wish your dad wood actually choked the guy from the other planet so I don't fall asleep.

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer: **My father would do no such thing.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** Hey, I thought the same thing about you until you had me up against a control panel with your hands wrapped around my throat. I had no idea you were such a kinky Vulcan and got off on that sort of thing until then.

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer:** I have no idea what you're referring to. You are the one with the choking fetish.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** You know exactly what I'm talking about. So you never use those silk scarves on Ny when you were dating her?

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer: **I choose not to answer the question.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** That's okay she already told me. I bet you are making your angry face right now. Do you know your dad makes the same faces you make when you want to choke someone, but don't because it unVulcan. Not in the fun way.

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer: **I highly doubt that. Your daughter asked to get a tattoo this morning.

He laughed when he saw that message. He did the same thing when he was a little kid when his mom was around long enough to ask such a question.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la: **Nice subject change. How did you say no to our baby?

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer: **I simply mentioned that Vulcans do not mutilate their bodies.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** Did Ny show her a picture of you with your eye brow Pierce? You were so sexy when you were being rebellious.

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer: **She was too busy throwing up at the time. Before you ask yes, we told Dr. McCoy about this. He believes it is the atmosphere, but I find his hypothesis illogical.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** We'll talk medical stuff later. I have to show Mandy the picture later. That piercing made you edible. I love you my too cute little Vulcan rebel.

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer:** I prefer that you do not show our daughter those photographs otherwise we will have a three year old asking to get various appendages pierce.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** No way in hell, am I letting our little girl get anything pierced other than her ear lobes. Can Vulcans pierce they ears?

**Sexy Vulcan Husband/Hot First Officer:** Due to the sensitivity of that part of our anatomy it is usually discouraged.

He knew exactly what Spock meant by that statement. He was already starting to get dirty pictures in his mind. Now he knows why he was able to talk Spock into that one time in the captain's chair on the bridge when the ship was technically docked for repairs.

**Totally Awesome T'hy'la:** Okay now you know I'm going to be begging you to get your ears pierced or maybe your tongue. I loved tongue rings, especially the vibrating kind. You're already so skilled. That would be the best BJ ever.

He never got to hear Spock's response because his father in law confiscated his communication device. He really hopes he doesn't read the last message.

* * *

Considering the obvious bored look on his son-in-law's face up until a few moments earlier he was not surprised to find Jim secretly sending text messages under the table with his communicator. Sarek refuses to admit that he did the same thing on occasion when his wife Amanda was alive.

Sometimes this still happens with T'Pay, but she prefers to use their link. Such is the case at that moment. "Would you please compensate Jim's communicator. He is currently engaging in communicator sex with your son when Spock is supposed to be speaking with my class."

Unfortunately, he did not take his wife's words for it and actually read some of the messages. If

It was his wife that got him into this mess in the first place. Actually, it was both of his wives. He probably would have never agreed to let Spock marry someone who was slightly crazy, if T'Pay did not share her final in person conversation with Amanda before her death. He promised T'Pay that he would try to get along with Jim for his son's sake and for his grandchildren.

If one was looking for positives in this situation, James Kirk was a much more desirable partner for his son been the horrible T'Pring. He was a good father and he could tell Jim was looking forward to the new children.

However, it was difficult for Sarek to really get to know his son's husband. For a human Jim did not like to share. The last time they met in person Sarek made the mistake of asking Jim how his mother was doing. Since then he learned to avoid certain personal questions unless Jim brought it up first.

As a skilled diplomat with decades of experience, he knows better than to mention anything T'Pring related. Sarek was desperately (if Vulcans did desperate) looking for something to talk about when he noticed that Jim had a surprised expression every time he encountered a human or someone of another species at the counsel offices. "You are surprisef to see many non Vulcan here at the council?"

"A little, Spock told me stories about how his mom was the only human around." He knew that Jim was trying to be polite. His wife was in most occasions the only human around. Sarek wished his Amanda could be alive to see how diverse this new place was despite some pockets of prejudice.

"Many individuals who chose to come to this colony in our time of need also chose to stay here. There is a very large community of retired Starfleet officials residing on the colony. You and Spock would be quite comfortable here if he chose to retire on the colony." Sarek said in conversation hoping to plant the idea in his son-in-laws head. He has long since given up on the idea of Spock coming back here any time soon. Sarek hopes that maybe after the next mission they will consider settling on the colony.

"I'm not sure about that. Did you notice all the funny looks we were receiving yesterday? I'm not sure if it was because we were the inner species couple or if we were the gay couple. We wouldn't encounter those looks on earth. Would you like me to repeat what your now former nanny said to me yesterday when she thought I was too stupid to understand Vulcan? I just don't think I can live in a place where I am referred to as my husband's human sex toy." He found that statement upsetting as well. If T'Pay did not already fire the woman he would have. Sarek hated when people said things like that to his Amanda.

"This is not the same Vulcan. The majority of the population of Vulcan that has not been borne in the colony spent the majority of their life on earth or other planets. 26% of the original survivors were considered social outcast among most Vulcans before the destruction. This reflects the attitudes of people on the planet. Not everyone holds on to the old values."

"Are you holding onto the old values? You keep harping on your son to leave me so he can have 75% Vulcan babies with his Vulcan wife on the new Vulcan colony." He was confused by Jim statement, but would not admit it. It was true he did that before the marriage ceremony but he stopped after that. After that point, he only suggested that his son moved to New Vulcan. Sarek was fully expecting Jim to be part of that arrangement even if he did not extend the invitation specifically to his son in law. He was well aware that his son would not go anywhere without Jim.

"I did no such thing after you and he were bonded." Sarek said in his defense.

"That's a fucking lie." Jim said as he took a bite of his lunch of an earth sandwich called a California and pretzels. "You kept pushing him to have a proper Vulcan wife up until the last moment. You used the rehearsal dinner as a matchmaking opportunity when you brought possible wives to the Ceremony," Jim said this angrily, as he put two pretzels into his mouth quickly.

"You and Spock were bonded before your wedding ceremony?" He never heard a response from Jim because the human was turning blue and starting to swell. He immediately called for transport to the nearest medical facility.

"Will you please let my son know that we are proceeding to the nearest medical facility? Let him know that I did not poison his husband but he had an adverse reaction to lunch. It would be in Spock's best interest to let me know about his husband's food allergies. If such a thing were logical I would blame this on you T'Pay."

**

* * *

**

**Three months before the destruction of Vulcan**

Amanda was on earth again because her husband. He was on the planet for official business that she was not a part of. At least this meant she was not expected to attend any of the boring negotiations were nothing of importance is accomplished except for posturing. It was obvious that the meeting was boring because she kept receiving text messages from her husband during the proceedings. Normally he feels doing something like that is extremely illogical.

She spent a few days in San Francisco with her son and his girlfriend. She tried to persuade her husband to go with her, but he would not. God Sarek was so stubborn. She almost felt like yelling at him for being illogical for holding a grudge this long.

Amanda doubted he was still angry because their son chose to join Starfleet over the Vulcan science academy. Both she and Sarek were now aware that T'Pring was engaged in a sexual relationship with one of her husband's distant nephews. Despite the momentary shame that incident brought to the Clan, it was for the best. Yet her stubborn as a mule for a Vulcan husband would not back down. She wonders if she should point out that stubbornness is an emotion.

She considered visiting her family, but honestly she did not have the emotional energy to deal with siblings and great aunts who criticized her choice of husband after nearly three decades and referred to her child as "the creepy alien kid". She loved her family, but she could only deal with them from the safe distance of the communication screen and several light years of space.

She considered visiting some of her old friends until she realized that in the decades since she has been away from the planet she has lost touch with most of her old friends. Many of the others no longer resided on the planet. What would she have to talk about anyway? She had a completely different life now as the Ambassador's wife and a member of the council.

Instead, she found herself at one of the best vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco sitting across from her friend T'Pay of Vulcan who once taught at Cambridge. T'Pay was one of the few individuals on Vulcan who actually treated her with respect and dignity. With the Non-Vulcan haircut and outfit that respected human sensibilities more than Vulcan professor T'Pay blended in with the crowd more than Amanda in her formal Vulcan attire. T'Pay argued that it was only logical to dress that way so she would not alienate her students.

She and T'Pay had a lot in common because they were both college professors, although Amanda's focus was linguistics. T'Pay is a student of culture with degrees in sociology, anthropology, and psychology at the equivalent of the doctorate level. T'Pay understood Vulcan culture and maybe even human behavior better than anyone Amanda knew. That maybe explains why T'Pay chose to teach on earth. It was just good fortune that T'Pay was teaching a seminar at Berkeley this week. This is how Amanda found herself at this restaurant talking about visiting her son.

"Don't get me wrong I like my son's girlfriend well enough. She is a very smart girl. I enjoy conversing with someone that understands my field of study beside Spock. She has always been a great friend to my son. However, I feel that is all they were really meant to be. I don't see them together as lovers beyond maybe another year. They love each other as friends, not lovers. I wished Spock were dating someone who he could actually love. I just don't see her as his bond mate."

"This does not have anything to do it the fact you are convince your son is gay?"

"There's that too, but he is more attracted to Nyota mind then body. So I'm not going to say anything."

"I have found a few male minds fascinating myself, but not enough to bond with any of them even though I prefer the female form. There is nothing illogical about your son having a casual relationship while he resides on earth until he returns to Vulcan to choose a partner. It may not be very common on Vulcan, but if you remember correctly in most cultures dating is the norm. You do remember how to date?" Amanda almost wanted to laugh at what her friend said. T'Pay may be more willing to express more emotions than the majority of her Vulcan contemporaries, but T'Pay would still find an emotional outburst somewhat offensive.

"You make it sound as if it is expected of my son to go back to Vulcan and have 75% Vulcan babies. You have done no such thing, so I see no logic in you expecting anyone else to follow that pattern of behavior. By the way, how is your girlfriend Desiree doing?"

"I do not know. We parted company 2.6 months ago. She became increasingly uncomfortable with those in my Clan pressuring me to provide an heir or come back to Vulcan to find a "real" male bond mate. It is very hard to maintain a romantic relationship when my father keeps sending every single available male Vulcan with an one million light years to pay a visit. He may have more success if he actually sent a few female Vulcans. My father finds it highly illogical I do not want to have children and prefer female partners."

"I seriously doubt your father would keep throwing possible suitors at you if you bonded with Desiree." Amanda said eating a slice of grilled pear and gorgonzola pizza.

"Unlike you my former partner had no desire whatsoever to 'participate in the archaic tradition of marriage even if it does take the form of a psychic link.' We mutually chose to dissolve our relationship. This is what I get for dating a human. I do not mean to offend you with that statement." Amanda actually did laugh at that.

"I did not find your statement offensive. It is unfortunate that Desiree does not understand the cultural significance of such a bond or even cares to learn. At least my son's current girlfriend understands the significance of bonding even if she said that every time she is around children she has the sudden urge to have the female sterilization procedure performed. If he does bond with her I'm never going to have grandchildren." Amanda said with a pout. She was really looking forward to grandchildren.

"I assume that Spock would suffer the same fate as I. being forced into a bond that I do not want to have. You must confess your husband is just as stubborn as my father is even if he is more understanding. I'm sure the pressure would be worse on me if anything were to happen to my sister who can just as easily pass the family genetic material." She felt sorry for her friend and vowed that her son would never be under the same pressure.

"Sarek will be forcing our child in to an unwanted bond over my dead body. My child will do whatever he pleases even if I do not agree with it. My husband knows better than to force Spock to do anything because of a biological imperative or not."

"The dead body statement is quite a possibility. Even if you die of old age Sarek will most likely outlive you by decades or maybe even an entire century or more simply due to our longer life expectancy. What will happen after you are gone?" She blames Vulcan logic on T'Pay extreme bluntness, but she did have a point.

"I don't want to think about that. No one wants to think about their husband remarrying or their loved ones going on without them after they die, but I guess I need to. As my friend, you are going to have to make sure my husband doesn't do anything stupid after I'm gone. You're his friend after all and friends do not let friends make stupid decisions."

"Vulcan's do not have friends, just acquaintances and family members that one is forced to contend with that we find displeasing."

"Supposedly Vulcans do not lie either, however, you just did that." Amanda said with a smile.

"What exactly will that entail?" T'Pay asked taking a small sip of her water.

"First make sure my husband doesn't try to force our child into anothe bond. I was not even happy about the first time but I was worried about Spock entering that thing we do not speak of prematurely and wanted him to be prepared."

"I think most of our problems are caused because we don't talk about that certain thing or even research it. What about forcing him to have grandchildren?" T'Pay asked the Vulcan equivalent of a smile.

"That's okay as long as Spock is actually in love with the person. I want grandchildren."

"Do you want the first daughter named after you?"

"That doesn't matter. Also make sure my husband doesn't do something like marry someone he doesn't love or even tolerate because of that biological thing we do not speak of."

"You expect me to do all of this after you are gone?"

"Absolutely, I just realized recently that you are one of the few friends I still have."

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Bonus question: What exactly is going on with the marriage of Sarek and T'Pay? I love to hear your theories.


	8. The World According to Mandy

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Special thank you to my beta Teddy Bear.

I take full responsibility for any remaining mistakes or at the very least, I will blame it on the voice recognition software that I must utilize to write the stories that is unable to tell the difference between ideal and idea.

This chapter is shorter than what I wanted it to be, but I was positive that if I didn't post something soon I would start getting angry PMs.

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Chapter Eight: The World According to Mandy

Amanda Kirk was a very energetic child who loved to play with her Barbies and have tea parties with her favorite uncle. She was also a very smart child who knew everything that was going on, even if she wasn't supposed to.

For some reason, everybody thought if they sent her to another room, they could talk about grown up things without her finding out. They should have known better by now that they can't keep secrets from her. She doesn't understand why grownups are so illogical sometimes.

She knows all about why daddy Jim thinks grandpa hates him because she listened in on his conversation with Uncle Bones when she was getting a booster from Dr. Chapel in the next room. She liked Dr. Chapel because she gives her special sugar free lollipops that don't make her hyper. (Because she is 25% Vulcan, she can't have chocolate or lollipops unless they are sugar free.) Mandy even knows that Dr. Chapel has a crush on her daddy Spock. Mandy knows this because Dr. Chapel is nice to her and lets her get away with everything.

Mandy also knew about what daddy and daddy did together, when she was supposed to be asleep, before Uncle Bones told her that grown-up time, meant daddy and daddy were having sex. Although from Uncle Bones definition, she is not sure why it was so noisy and so much screaming was involved.

She already knew about grown-up playtime because sometimes daddy and daddy forgot to turn on the soundproofing and she could hear them. On those nights, she would just quietly play with her dolls until the screaming stopped or Uncle Bones, who lives next door, started banging on the walls to tell daddy and daddy to be quiet. (Her mommy Nyota didn't live next door anymore because she was now second officer. Now she was on the other side of the ship in case something bad happen. That is OK because Amanda now has a bedroom over there too, filled with more toys.)

Amanda knew about the new babies her mommy was having, because she pretended to be asleep on her mommy's lap in sickbay when Uncle Bones talked to her about the babies. She found out about how mommy got pregnant when she listened in on the family meeting yesterday, when she was supposed to be showing her Aunt T'Mandy how to play Barbies.

T'Pay was too busy grading papers to notice that she left the room. Aunt T'Mandy does not like her that much and thought playing games was illogical. She just glares a lot at Mandy and keeps raising her eyebrow like daddy Spock does, when she colors on the walls at home with old-fashioned crayons.

Even though she supposed to call her Ny or aunt Nyota, Amanda always felt that Ny was her mommy. First, she saw dozens of images of her growing inside of Ny's uterus before she was born. Uncle Bones was the one who told her that a baby grows inside of their mommy's uterus and not stomach. She grew inside there just as the new babies are doing right now. Like Uncle Bones said babies grow inside their mom's uterus, not their aunt's uterus.

Then there's the fact she calls Ny's mommy her grandma. Another name for grandma is mom's mom. If Alexis is her grandma, then Ny must be her mommy. It was the only logical conclusion. (She doesn't call T'Pay grandma because she's not daddy Spock's mom, Amanda was.)

Because she grows up on a spaceship she rarely gets to compare notes because she doesn't get to play with other kids. However according to the files on her pretty sparkly Barbie pink PADD, Ny does all the things that moms are supposed to do. For example, Ny picks out her outfits and gets her dressed in the morning sometimes. Her daddies do the same thing, but that's what daddies are supposed to do too.

Unlike most of the kids in the files, she has two daddies. That's kind of cool except for the fact they're always kissing or sneaking off for playtime when they're not working. Her daddy's like to kiss a lot.

The only person near her age that she has really spent time with has been her aunt. She doesn't necessarily know if that's a good example, because Aunt T'Mandy said that her mom never reads her bedtime stories or makes her cookies the old fashioned way when she is sad. (T'Mandy says Vulcans don't get sad.) Though, Grandpa Sarek canceled a work trip to stay with T'Mandy when she broke her leg last year. That's something Mandy daddies would do.

The thing is Ny will not let her call her mommy. Unlike fully human children, Amanda has been able to remember things from when she was only a few months old. When she first started talking, she called Ny mama all the time until Ny told her not to. Amanda doesn't understand why she is not supposed to call Ny mommy. Ny never explained why and she looked really sad when she was teaching her not to call her mommy. Mandy is sure she cried a few times. After that, Amanda only refers to Ny as mommy in her head.

Today as usual, her mommy sent her upstairs so she wouldn't listen in on another grown-up conversation, but she snuck back down anyway after about an hour. Amanda is really good at being sneaky. Six months ago, she figured out how to deactivate the 'child lock' in her quarters.

Right now, she's really confused because mommy keeps calling the old guy who looks like daddy by daddy's name as they're talking about the mean lady from last night. She kept yelling at Sunk. Amanda actually liked Sunk but felt bad for him because he had a mean mommy. Too bad, he didn't have a nice mommy like Ny. Ny never hit her like Sunk's mommy hit him. According to her files, mommy shouldn't do that.

"T'Pring was not a very pleasant individual in my time. Instead of dissolving our bond and allowing me time to find another partner once she became involved with another individual, she challenged me using Jim as her champion during my time. I thought I killed Jim." Now Amanda was really confused. Why was elder Selek talking about daddy like that? He sounded really sad.

"That doesn't surprise me. If we didn't walk in on her having Vulcan hand sex in a public restaurant with Spock's very distant cousin we would have never known. Although, I'm sure the baby bulge would have given her away eventually."

"Stonn is not a cousin of mine. Also, they had no children together before my bond with her was dissolved."

"I cannot remember the guy's name, but that was not it. I wouldn't be surprised if she slept around with more than one individual. It just happened that in this dimension the condom broke. Unfortunately, under Vulcan law the kid is yours or rather your counterpart's child no matter who she did." She heard her mom say in irritation.

"I do not understand." Neither did Amanda.

"Under Vulcan law Amanda now has a big brother or rather half brother. According to the birth records Sunk is Spock son." Amanda couldn't help but cheer.

That meant that Sunk was going to be her big brother. If he was her brother that meant he would live on the spaceship with her and could have a good mommy and two good daddies. Most importantly, he wouldn't have to be around the mean lady that scowled at her for the entire dinner yesterday. Of course, because she started cheering mommy found her on the stairs.

"Amanda what are you doing down here?" Ny asked giving her the mom glare of death.

"I wanted a glass of water?"

"Nice try. Why were you cheering?

"Why were you calling Elder Selek by daddy's name?" She really did want to know the answer to that question anyway.

"Nice try baby girl. What did your daddy Jim tell you about listening to other people's conversations?"

"Don't get caught and only do it if your life is dependent upon it." She heard her mommy sigh right then.

"Okay, from now on Spock is the one in charge of having conversations with you involving rules of conduct." Ny said as she picked Amanda up from the stairs. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Play Barbies with me?" She said looking up with innocent eyes.

"Later. I think it's time for you to have lunch. Elder Selek believes he has found a restaurant that actually has things on the menu that you will eat." Mommy said as they walked back in to the living room.

"If Sunk is my big brother now, does that mean he will play Barbies with me?"

"You were listening to our conversation?" Elder Selek asked as her mommy put her down onto the couch next to him and went to grab her sparkly shoes from the closet.

"She always listens to other people's conversations. The only way to prevent it is to have the conversation in a classified conference room, at least until she figures out how to plant a bug in the conference room."

"Aunt Nyota, why would I put a bug in a conference room? I don't like Bugs."

"Never mind, I'm not going to explain it to you. It will give you ideas. I don't think T'Pring would allow Sunk to play Barbies with you. It's too human." Ny said as she gave the shoes to Amanda to put on.

"You just said Sunk is my big brother. That means he's supposed to play with me. He's nice. He even colored with me before you got there last night, although his mommy yelled at him later. Can he live with us now?"

"It's complicated. What do you mean she yelled at him? I don't remember that." Her mommy asked in confusion.

"You were throwing up in the bathroom because of the babies. Why are the babies making you sick?"

"I don't know. Uncle Bones thinks it's the atmosphere." Amanda likes Uncle Bones because he plays with her and doesn't treat her like a stupid little kid, like her teacher. Amanda has been trying to get Uncle Bones to go out with her mommy but he keeps saying no. Amanda thinks that her mommy would be happier if she had somebody to have grown up playtime with all the time. In addition, if mommy Ny had someone to have grown-up playtime with, that meant Amanda would have more siblings. Although mom was already pregnant again, so that's not important anymore.

"Your grandfather is going to bring me a tea later that should keep me from throwing up. You were supposed to be standing right outside the stall last night. You are not supposed to wonder away from us. It's bad enough that your daddy Jim gets kidnapped all the time, there's no need for you to join him."

"I'm sorry Mo-Aunt Nyota." She said almost slipping up. "I wanted to give Sunk a goodbye hug. His mommy got mad and started yelling at him in Vulcan when I tried. I don't know what she said because she used words I don't understand." She looked that the two adults sitting next to her on the couch and noticed their concern looks. Elder Selek had the same expression that her daddy had when he was worried. They even raise their eyebrows in the exact same way.

"Amanda, what exactly did T'Pring say to Sunk?" Mommy got very upset when Amanda repeated exactly what T'Pring said to Sunk.

"Amanda you are never to repeat those words to anyone." Mommy said in a calm voice.

"What did she say? Why can't I repeat it?"

"What T'Pring said to Sunk was something that no parent should say to their child. What she said was very mean and inappropriate. That's why you can't repeat it."

"Is that why she hit him?" Her mommy looked even angrier when Amanda asked her that question.

"That cold-hearted bitch, I would kick her ass if I wasn't pregnant. Unlike her, I don't endanger my children-I mean other people's children." Immediately Amanda saw her mommy placing a call on her communicator.

"You said the B word and the A word. You have to put ten credits in the swear jar account." She reminded her.

"Spock, we have to talk about your evil ex almost wife and your child by law. Apparently that thing about Vulcans not abusing their children is a fuc..." She heard her mommy say on the phone as she stop midsentence and stayed quiet for a few minutes.

"Your dad didn't actually try to kill him? How does Jim manage to end up in the emergency room during vacation?" She paused for a moment before continuing.

"He had an allergic reaction to pretzels? Are you sure your dad didn't give him the pretzels containing soy on purpose? Wait, don't answer that question. We'll be at the hospital in 30 minutes, because you know Little Miss nosy will want to see for herself that he's okay. Actually, we had better make it 60 minutes. We have not had lunch yet and you know how your daughter is when she is hungry and nervous. It will be easier on everyone if she is happy and with a full stomach. They don't have McDonnell's here but they have an all vegetarian version of Baja Fresh. I will see you at the hospital later." She said closing the device.

"That was Spock. It seems that Jim couldn't survive a lunch with Sarek without ending up in the emergency room."

"Is daddy okay?" Mandy said as she started to cry a little. Every time daddy or other daddy ended up in sick bay or the hospital she would get scared. A couple of months ago daddy Jim was unconscious for a week after he got hurt on a mission. She was so scared she wouldn't leave daddy Jim's side. Uncle Bones let Mandy sleep in a Bio bed next to daddy's that week.

"He's okay. He had an allergic reaction to lunch, but he's fine now. We will see him in a little bit okay. Do you want your daddy bear?" She just nodded as a few more tears started to fall, but it will be okay because her mommy was hugging her. She would keep her safe.


	9. Vulcan avoidance

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Writing Amanda was fun and I plan to do more of it in the future.

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Chapter Nine: Starbucks of New Vulcan: Enabling Vulcan avoidance since 2259.3

Jim Kirk was getting really good at waking up in hospital rooms. It was starting to become an almost weekly occurrence. After being a captain for almost nine years, Jim is no longer shocked by the most innocent situations becoming life threatening. One time he ended up in sickbay because he accidentally ate a fake cookie at one of Amanda's tea parties. Was it his fault the fake cookies looked real after being forced to skip a couple of meals?

There was also that time he ended up in sickbay due to an allergic reaction to lubricant during that first threesome with his bond mate and Ny. Jim will never forget Bones face when he tried to explain what happened or why he had a rash in that place.

This was the first time he has ever ended up in the emergency room because of a pretzel. This was embarrassing and worse than the cookie thing. If this story ever gets out to the crew, he is telling everybody that Sarek poisoned the pretzels. Knowing his father in law, it is possible. However, Jim doubted that because of the petrified, (for a Vulcan) expression he saw on his father-in-law's face before he completely lost consciousness.

Usually Bones or Dr. Chapel would be standing over Jim yelling at him for being an idiot, as they do every time since the beginning of his second five year mission at this point. Before then it would be just Bones yelling at him for being an idiot. He suffered his worst angry lecture during the allergic reaction to the personal lubricant thing.

Actually, Bones is still the only one yelling. Christine would be making him feel bad for worrying his husband and daughter if she wasn't treating Spock for his own injuries. They have a tendency to get injured at the same time. Usually it was because one of them was saving the other one.

Even though he knew Dr. Chapel had a crush on Spock, she was still Spock and Amanda's personal doctor because of her specific training in Vulcan physiology. Dr. Chapel completed her medical rotation and earned her doctorate on the Vulcan colony before being transferred back to Enterprise for the second five-year mission. According to Bones, she was actually on Enterprise during the maiden voyage as a nurse, but Jim does not remember seeing her. It was probably the drugs or the fact he was too busy trying to keep everybody from dying.

Now that Enterprise had four Vulcan crewmembers in addition to his half Vulcan husband and quarter Vulcan daughter the Admiralty felt it was best that the ship had a doctor who specialized in Vulcan anatomy. Jim could not help but agree.

Jim loved Bones to death, but he only trusted his baby girl to someone who knew that Vulcan children could not have regular lollipops because it makes them stoned. Jim was still trying to repress the incident where Bones gave Amanda regular candy one time when he was babysitting her. Fortunately, because his baby girl was 75% human she was only slightly high and caused no major property damage. (All children draw on the walls at some point so it doesn't count.)

Of course, this time Bones and Christine were nowhere in sight. It was just some strange nurse and doctor standing over him speaking in hushed tones. Both men were talking about what happen as they were looking over his readings.

From the conversation apparently the swelling and unconsciousness was caused by accidentally eating pretzels containing soy. Leave it to Vulcans to make perfectly innocent food dangerous. If they are going to put soy in foods that should not have Soy they should be properly labeled.

He could hear Spock arguing in the background as usual. Normally Spock would be screaming (in a very Vulcan way) at Dr. McCoy. Today Spock's father was dealing with 'angry/worried for his bond mate' Spock. Apparently, Spock was blaming this entire thing on his father. Jim always assumed Spock got his stubbornness from his mother Amanda until that moment.

"Do not raise your voice at me. It is not my fault your husband is currently unconscious due to a severe allergic reaction to soy. It is illogical for you to blame me because that particular establishment did not properly label the food. There was no mention of the pretzels containing soy." Sarek said in a very calm and logical way.

"Your argument is logical." Spock said in a tone of voice that is usually reserved for when Jim does something that Spock finds stupid but doesn't want to undermine Jim's authority in front of everybody. What Spock is really saying is, "I still blame you even if your argument is logical. This is still your fault."

"Right before your husband turned a fascinating shade of purple he mentioned that you and he were bonded for several years before the human marriage ceremony." Of course is father-in-law would take this opportunity to mention that. "If I was aware of this I would have stopped pushing for you to take a Vulcan wife." Jim wondered if his husband was rolling his eyes at that comment. He would ask but the drugs were affecting his ability to reach out through the link or maybe he was being blocked. Sarek would have tried to interfere no matter what.

"Our bond was personal and none of your business. You chose my bond mate once and we now see the consequences of that decision. I couldn't do any worse than choosing someone as wretched as T'Pring." Okay, Spock was angry. He just used a contraction. That was Spock speak for, "My relationship with Jim is none of your fucking business and I will be with whoever I want no matter what you think." If Jim were not slightly drugged, he would have cheered.

"I made my position clear to you that I planned on spending the rest of my life with Jim even if you believed I was letting my people down by taking a human partner. Unlike you, I do not believe in hypocrisy. Your wife told me that Human/Vulcan hybrid children are becoming more common on this new planet. Not all of us marry someone we don't love out of a sense of duty." Okay that was unnecessarily cold. However, it was obviously true. After only one day, Jim could tell that Sarek was just good friends with his current wife.

By this point, the two started arguing in rapid Vulcan. Jim was still too stoned to understand what they were saying completely. He is pretty sure he just heard the Vulcan equivalent of 'fuck you'. He was not completely sure because his stubborn husband was cutting him off from their bond now. Jim knew Spock did it so he wouldn't feel how worried his husband was.

"Can one of you guys please go out there and keep my husband from strangling his father?" Jim said out loud causing both men to look at him. Surprisingly, the doctor and nurse were both human or were at least perceived to be human. With her hair down, Amanda looked completely human. So he has learned not to judge.

"I have over a decade of experience with Vulcans and I know better than to get in the middle of a rare display of emotions. I'm just surprised that it is happening in the middle of a hospital corridor." The doctor said quietly.

"You don't know my husband very well. Once, I pissed him off so badly that he tried to strangle me in front of the entire bridge crew. Although his mother just died so I understood." Jim decided not to mention that he deliberately provoked his future husband. The doctor was already frowning.

"Nice to see that you are awake, Captain Kirk. I'm Dr.M'Benga and I'm here to make sure you stay that way." Dr.M'Benga said quickly.

"I blame their illogical behavior on their overexposure to humans." Jim mumbled under his breath.

"I see Christine was right about your sense of humor. Telling jokes even after a near death experience."

"You know Christine?"

"I helped train her when I was still with Starfleet. She occasionally sends me messages about how much fun I missing because I decided to retire and stay on New Vulcan. She will be upset if I let anything happen to her favorite captain."

"She is in love with my husband. I don't think she will mind that much if I die. My daughter kind of likes her because she bribes her."

"She is a good doctor and cares about all her patients. I seriously doubt she will let you suffer just so she can sleep with your husband. The good news is you are not going to die. You can thank your father-in-law's quick actions for that. You are also conscious now and making jokes. That is another good sign. I heard stories about you going into battle immediately after a severe allergic reaction, so I am not worried. I do want to keep you here for observations for the next 24 hours. You are not 25 anymore and there could be some other complications. Also for some reason your blood pressure is increasing quite rapidly." That would probably be the scene going on outside his door, but he did not mention that.

"That sucks. I get to spend my vacation in the hospital. I guess it beats being kidnapped. That happened on shore leave five years ago and it absolutely sucked. How did you end up being a doctor on New Vulcan when you were in Starfleet?" Jim asked wanting to know more about the guy treating him and it distracted him from the argument outside.

"Before the planet was destroyed, I did a two year internship on Vulcan as part of a cultural exchange program. Due to the destruction of the planet, there was a severe shortage of medical professionals with any experience with Vulcan physiology. Due to my knowledge, I was assigned to the colony after Elder Selek specifically requested my presence. I have no idea how he knew about my internship or my previous experience."

Jim knew perfectly well how the older version of his husband knew about the doctor's specialization. Sneaky hypocritical Vulcan. Why is he not surprised? All Spocks are essentially the same deep down. Old Spock, goes on and on about not influencing the timeline, when he does it all the time. Although Jim guesses, getting a skilled medical professional for the colony is a much more justifiable reason than giving Jim lottery numbers.

He could still hear his husband and father being unVulcan in the hallway. It was giving him a headache. He was just about to go yell at his husband but Ny was doing it for him. She was great. No one can deal with a Vulcan husband completely on his own.

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As she walked in on her friend and his father not-arguing in a very Vulcan way, she was happy that she had the foresight to have baby Mandy stay back with her uncle/older version of her father in the cafeteria finishing her cheese quesadilla. Initially she did it just in case things were really bad. Mandy would run to her daddy's bedside immediately no matter what condition he was in. Nyota wanted to be sure everything would be okay before the little girl arrived.

She wasn't expecting to have to break up a very Vulcan argument between father and son. They were too much alike. That was the problem.

"Will you two please stop arguing right now." She yelled as a command as she walked into the corridor.

"Vulcan's do not argue." Sarek said looking at her directly.

"Try that on someone who hasn't spent nine years watching your son and his significant other 'not argue' on the bridge. Did you forget that I dated your son for almost three years? We had our share of non-arguments too. I know a Vulcan argument when I see it. Spock go talk to your husband, now. Amanda will be up here soon and you know you will not have a chance to once she is here. Your father can come with me to the Starbucks downstairs."

"I much rather stay here." Instead of responding, she just glared at the older man.

"Father, I do not believe that was a request." It seems that Spock was able to notice her angry eyes instantly.

"Yes, I do remember pregnant humans are susceptible to fluctuations in emotions." She will not hit Sarek for that comment. That would be inappropriate.

"Seriously why do I put up with you guys? I could be having a nice shore leave with nonalcoholic tropical drinks, on a nice quiet island, light years away from this crazy mess. Instead, I am dealing with Vulcans who cannot share their nonexistent feelings and nosy children. This is on top of the fact I keep throwing up every 20 minutes. I am not being overly emotional. I am pregnant and it is all your fault." She said in irritation as she pointed a finger at Spock.

"Maybe the café downstairs has the tea I told you about earlier. We will give you a few minutes alone with your husband, Spock." Sarek said as he finally acquiesced to leaving.

* * *

He hated seeing his James in pain or hurt. During the last nine years, there have been multiple times when Spock has considered handing in both their resignations. However, moments like these made Spock realize that even if they were not in Starfleet, his husband would still manage to almost get himself killed on a semi regular basis. His Jim has always been able to pull off this seemingly impossible.

"You suffered a severe allergic reaction due to a pretzel?" He asked as he approached his husband's bed completely ignoring the doctor even though he already knew the truth.

"In my defense, how was I supposed to know that you could put soy in a pretzel? There was no label. It must be something new."

"Pretzels containing soy have existed on earth since the early 21st century. Dr. McCoy has lectured you 183 times on the dangers of consuming improperly labeled or unfamiliar foods. How many times have I told you not to consume anything that is not labeled before it has been scanned?" Spock said as he grabbed his husband's hands so that he may kiss him discreetly.

"I'm not sure, a lot. Even though I have a photographic memory, just like you, I don't literally keep count of every single stupid thing you do. That's so unfair. Also, I thought that only applied to diplomatic missions and when we are on strange planets." Spock took a long calming breath before continuing.

"You do not consider this a strange planet?"

"As much as I enjoy watching living proof that the assumptions about Vulcans not showing emotions or making jokes are completely untrue. I have other patients to see. Commander Spock, as I was telling your husband earlier the worst of his reaction is over now. However, we would like to keep him overnight for observations. We are also a little worried about his blood pressure and stress levels."

"That is logical." Spock said as the doctor left the room after promising to come back later.

"You just said that because that means you are going to sleep here in the chair instead of staying at your father's house. You're using me to avoid your father." James said as he literally pulled him on top of the bed.

"Perhaps," Spock said as he wrapped one arm around his husband and placed a kiss on his forehead.

* * *

On more than one occasion during his extremely long life he wondered what it would have been like to have a child with his T'hy'la. Not that Vulcans fantasize about such trivial things, but occasionally he would wonder what it would be like to see a child lying around with Jim's eyes and his ears. Unfortunately, in his time he never saw those daydreams come to fruition.

The technology to bioengineer a child existed back in his time, although it was not as advance. He was living proof of that. Also the technology that allow in this dimension for Nyota to be pregnant with James and his counterparts children simultaneously existed for centuries if not millennia, well before the timeline split. Therefore such a thing was a tangible reality.

Yet in his dimension, things were too complicated for the two to ever consider having children. They met too late in life. They both brought too much baggage into their relationship. His lover was too concerned with how people saw him. They were not friends with a lawyer who enjoyed challenging Starfleet policy on family life. All of this culminated in him being alone after his love disappeared.

His other fantasy that he should never have had was to do things over again. There were many things that he would do differently if given the chance. His mother always told him, "Be careful what you wish for, because you may just get it". However, he was not expecting that second chance to come at such a high price or at all.

In this dimension, everything was different. There was so much darkness and pain. This dimension's James suffered so much because of the loss of his father. Yet, part of Spock saw this dimension as a second chance even if he would not be the one living this life.

He should be preserving the timeline, but was it logical to preserve parts of a timeline that brought so much pain? It was only logical to use his knowledge to make things better. Things were already so different in this dimension what was the point of preserving events that may not even take place anyway.

He was not influencing everything, just certain things of great personal importance. It was not as if he was acquiescing to James's requests for lottery numbers or investment advice.

He convinced this dimensions Jim to fight for command of Enterprise. He convinced his counterpart to return to his Jim. He used his knowledge of the future to get certain key personnel to the new colony to help with the rebuilding efforts. He also tried to make things better for his counterpart if only indirectly. His two biggest regrets were his abysmal relationship with his father and the fact that he never had a child with his beloved.

The man that sired him in this dimension recognized him instantly. He should not be surprised. Maybe it was the effect of Amanda's death in this dimension or maybe it was because he had years more experience Spock could at least get along with this version of his father. Although it probably helps that his father re-married someone in this dimension who was at least tolerable even if Sarek did not love her except as a friend.

With T'Pay's assistance, he was able to convince his father to at least try to cultivate a relationship with the younger version of himself. Of course, he miscalculated his father's ability to alienate his counterpart simply by being his true self. Despite that, they had a much better relationship in this dimension then in his. Constant arguing is a step up from cold indifference.

During the original timeline, Spock would never contemplate spending a week at his father's house, especially a house that did not contain his mother. Even Jim could not convince him to do such a thing. Yet his counterpart was here. That must mean something.

His current mission was to help improve James's relationship with his mother in this timeline. It surprised Spock that despite only having his mother in this dimension, James's relationship with her was just as tumultuous even if it was for entirely different reasons. He blames it on the fact that all of James's stubbornness comes from her no matter the dimension.

Since the wedding, he has been in contact with James's former sister in law. After James forced him to apologize for being extremely blunt to her at James is wedding, he realized she was a very intelligent and engaging young woman. It also took her 15.3 minutes to realize he was an alternate version of her pseudo little brothers husband. From that moment, she enlisted him in her efforts to get mother and son to get along.

He discovered the real reason why Winona did not attend her son's wedding a year ago when Akia asked him if there was ever an outbreak of OPV during the other timeline. Depending on your perspective, fortunately there was never any outbreak of that particular virus in the other dimension in humans. Unfortunately, that meant he could not even point her in the direction of a possible treatment option.

He was not planning to interfere directly with James's relationship with his mother but merely be a sounding board. After his conversation with Nyota earlier today, he discovered that James will not even talk to his mother and had no idea she only had months to live unless Akia can find a new treatment. Because of that, he decided that something drastic was necessary. He will contact Akia this afternoon and possibly Dr. McCoy about his idea.

If he were one to be shocked, he would find it shocking that his counterpart had a better relationship with his father, than James had with his mother. At least Sarek actually showed up to his son's wedding even after spending several years trying to convince his son to take a 'proper Vulcan wife'.

Despite his interference, Spock could not prevent that from happening. However, Spock was the one who convinced Sarek to give his consent to the union between James and this dimension Spock on the condition Spock provided an heir before the wedding eventually. It was selfish.

He could not help but think it was completely worth it as he sat with a beautiful and energetic little girl with Jim's eyes and his ears as she ate her lunch.

She acted just like his James except she was much more hyper. Then again, this version of James was much more hyper. She was mostly James's child, but there were bits and pieces of him or rather his counterpart in her as well. She was naturally inquisitive as he was, although he seriously doubted that as a child he would purposely listen in on everybody's conversations.

"Will daddy is okay?" The little girl looked up at him with sad eyes as she kept clutching a teddy bear wearing a replica of a gold command top.

"I have never met an individual more resilient than your father. Through our entire acquaintance, he has continuously surprised me. Would you like to see your father now?" A few minutes earlier Nyota sent a message telling him it was OK to bring her upstairs and suggested he bring up a decaf mocha cappuccino with Splenda to calm his counterparts nerves after a particularly nasty argument with Sarek. The little girl just nodded as she clutched her teddy bear that she called daddy Jim.

"How long have you known my daddy?" The little girl asked, as they were halfway to Jim's hospital room after he picked up the requested drink. He does not know what he finds stranger, the fact that the earth style coffee place was very popular on the planet or that he had to show ID to buy a cup of coffee at his age. Although Starbucks on New Vulcan does serve drinks that contain chocolate, one must be over the age of majority to purchase such things.

"A very long time, almost as long as he has known your father." He said cryptically as they turned the hallway. He could hear his other-self-talking to his Jim in hushed tones as they approached. At that point, Amanda let go of his sleeve.

By the time he caught up with the energetic little girl, she was sitting on top of Jim as his counterpart lay beside him on the very narrow bed. He decided to wait in the hallway as not to disrupt the family moment. It had nothing to do it the fact that the scene was slightly painful to watch and gave him the desire to consume the drink in his hand himself.

"Are you okay daddy?"

"I'm fine baby. Your grandfather had to take me to the hospital because I started to swell up like a balloon. You know I do that all the time. It's not a big thing."

"You're not all swollen anymore." The little girl said as she touched her father's face.

"I'm good now. The doctors took good care of me, although you're not allowed to have pretzels any more. Seriously, who puts soy in a pretzel? Spock, don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question."

"I was not going to say anything."

"So what did you do this morning baby girl?"

"I met Ny's special friend. Why does he look so much like daddy?" He instantly noticed the bewildered expression on both faces.

"He is a relative." James said quickly.

"Is he my great grandpa?"

"More like a really distant uncle. It's like he's from another dimension." That statement is somewhat accurate. Genetically, he and his counterpart are like identical twins.

"I like him. He's fun. He told me that they have a zoo. Can we go to the zoo tomorrow?"

"There's a zoo on this planet? That seems too much like an activity that would be fun."

"It is not really a zoo in the traditional sense." The older Spock said as he walked into the room and passed the coffee drink to his counterpart.

"Nyota told me to bring you that. The zoo as she calls it is a research center that is an extension of the Vulcan Science Academy. They are in charge of the reestablishment of various animal populations once native to Vulcan. Fortunately, there were a few off planet DNA Banks containing samples of many of the species that were destroyed, in addition to animals that were held in captivity on other planets. The scientists at the center are in charge of breeding these new animals. It has been discovered recently that many animals native to earth can function as surrogates for similar Vulcan species. So that those on the planet made become acclimated to these animals, visitors are allowed to visit the preserve area for educational purposes."

"Uncle Selek, that's what a zoo is according to my pretty pink Barbie PADD. Daddy, I told you they have a zoo. Can we go tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately, your father will have to stay at the hospital for one more night." His counterpart said in a soft voice to his daughter.

"I thought you said you were better?"

"I am better. The doctor just wants me to rest and believes that it will be easier if it happens here."

"You don't like hospitals."

"I love hospitals when the alternative is much more unpleasant."

"I would not be averse to taking Amanda to the Vulcan Science Academy zoological research center tomorrow while you recover. I decided to take several days off to coincide with your visit. Although I was not expecting to visit you for the first time in the hospital. Some things never change."

"He is just a friend and he takes time off. Your father is still working." Jim said in irritation.

"Do you actually want to spend more time with my father?" The other Spock asked his husband directly.

"Good point. Elder Selek, I'm not sure you can handle Amanda for an entire afternoon alone. Maybe Spock or Nyota should go with you. Actually maybe both of them should."

"I have had decades of experience with rambunctious Kirks. I should be fine." Spock was almost positive he saw his counterpart snicker at that, but said nothing.

* * *

"I assume you do not just want me to go with you to Starbucks?" He asked her as soon as they reach the Starbucks inside the healing center. Unfortunately, they had to stop off at one of the bathrooms for her to throw up again. He was quite shocked (if Vulcans felt such a thing) that the earth chain became so popular on the colony. It may have something to do with the fact that many of their drinks contain chocolate. Coffee bars and cafes are quite common on the planet.

"Your assumption is correct." She said as they got in line. "Why did you wait until yesterday to tell Spock about what T'Pring did?" She asked looking directly at him with an icy glare that reminded him of Amanda.

"I felt he had a right to know. Yesterday was the first opportunity I have had to tell him in person." It surprised him that she had a very similar expression to Amanda's "I know you're lying to me even though you say you never lie" expression. Nyota had many qualities similar to his Amanda. That maybe why his son started whatever relationship they have. Sarek is completely unable to label that particular relationship beyond the fact they were more than friends.

"I've known your son for a very long time. I know when he's lying just like I know when you're lying. Do you realize you make the same facial expressions?"

"Vulcan's do not lie." As he said this, the human woman in front of him holding a child with ears like Spock started to snicker. "My husband says the exact same thing. Nobody believes that anymore." Nyota does not say anything again until after they have their drinks and are sitting at a private table. He almost ordered something containing chocolate before deciding against it in case he needed to return to the office. He always craved the substance after any major argument with his oldest living child.

"Over the years I have discovered that Vulcans do a lot of things, that they say they do not do. For example everybody assumes Vulcans do not hit their children either but we both know that is an inaccurate hypothesis." Both of his eyebrows were approaching his hairline as soon as the words left her mouth.

"I have never laid a hand on any of my children, not even my oldest child from my first marriage. Such a thought is completely reprehensible." There are moments where he wonders if being stricter with his first child would have been beneficial. It does not matter because his oldest child is dead.

"Trust me, I know that. You are the good father compared to some of Jim's former stepfathers. Unfortunately, T'Pring takes after the latter." He was surprised she noticed this after just one meeting. It took him years to realize the truth.

"What do you know?" He asked her calmly.

"Yesterday when Little Amanda was supposed to be waiting right outside the stall door she wondered out into the hallway and saw her hit him. This is after she insulted his intelligence and chastised him for acting like a fucking human." She said in anger as the expletive fell from her lips. He was not surprise about what happened, only worried that his granddaughter saw the unfortunate incident. "Yes, she did use the Vulcan equivalent of the word fuck in front of your three year old granddaughter along with other very derogatory terms for human. Let's just say that was one of the more mild words that T'Pring utilized to humiliate her ten-year-old son. You probably already knew this was going on judging by your lack of expression by Vulcan standards."

"I had my suspicions for the last 2.2 years but I was unable to prove anything until recently. 4.2 weeks ago, when T'Pring brought Sunk by the office I noticed he had various bruises on his arms and face. I found this peculiar because if the child was taken to a healer right away, the bruises would not be there. T'Pring said there was no point in taking him there because he would do something else to **earn** those bruises. I found this attitude disturbing and neglectful. When I asked him how he receives such bruises, he said he ran into a door. Vulcan reflexes make such a story highly implausible." He said keeping his voice is neutral as possible. Even if this child was not biologically his grandson, he still found it distasteful for her to be abusing any child.

"That's the same excuse Jim used when stepfather number one used him as a punching bag. Were you planning on telling Jim and Spock about this?"

"I am aware that my son in law encountered such unfortunate incidents with his first stepfather. I was planning to tell Jim this afternoon when we return to my office once he was more comfortable around me. Because of his personal experiences, I felt he was more likely to agree to my plan."

"What would that be?"

"The only logical solution is for my son and his husband to challenge T'Pring for full custody since Spock is the father of record. Even if the child must be raised on a starship away from the colony, it's better than being raised by such a monster." It also seems that Nyota had the same shocked expression as Amanda. Maybe it is just a human thing.


	10. Revelations of the Traumatic Kind

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

**Chapter 10: Revelations of the Traumatic Kind.**

Spock was originally planning to spend the day by his partner side until the doctor discharged Jim later as Nyota accompanied his counterpart to the Zoological Centre of the Vulcan Science Academy. It was the perfect way for him to avoid his father and spend time with his love. He would read scientific journals as James slept and would have the added bonus of not having to deal with his father's constant questioning of all of his decisions.

However, as is the pattern, nothing on this trip has gone as planned. Instead, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, he will be spending this day surrounded by small children that are not his and his alternate self at a zoo that does not even have a decent gift shop or playground. He is positive his daughter will bring that up several times.

After her conversation with his father Nyota threw up on Dr. M'Benga and then lost consciousness for 3.2 minutes. If such an event were to happen at all, it was fortunate that it occurred at a healing center. After administering several tests, it was revealed that she was severely dehydrated, her blood glucose levels were 27.3% lower than normal and the children's heart rates were 10% higher than normal for hybrid children. After a 20.7 minute video conference with Dr. McCoy where he laughed for 5.6 minutes when he found out how James ended up in the hospital, it was decided that Nyota would be admitted as a precaution.

To say that Nyota was upset that she would be hospitalized would be an understatement.

"I'm not that sick. I'm pregnant." Of course, she said this as she started gagging again.

"Oh sure you're not sick. You're just throwing up to keep that pretty little figure of yours." Sarcasm was dripping off the doctor's voice through the communicator screen set up in Jim's room for this purpose. To simplify things, they allowed her to share a room with James even though it was traditionally against Hospital protocol.

They sent Amanda home with Sarek a little earlier. She forced him to stay with James because she didn't want to leave her daddy alone. She also left James her special Captain Kirk Teddy bear that her Grandmother Alexis made for her at some place called Build-a-Bear Workshop where people make their own toys the old fashioned way.

"If you were here, I would hit you right now." Nyota said at Dr. McCoy in anger.

"I like to see you try. You are so weak I don't even think you can swat a fly. You need rest and fluids."

"Hey baby, do you remember the flies on the last planet we visited. Those were so big I do not think anybody could swap them. They were huge." When James completely gets off subject, it is a good sign. That usually means he is feeling better.

"Will you please take care of your ADHD husband? You're supposed to be here to help me talk her into taking care of herself and those two children that she's carrying. The two children, which happen to be your children. Nyota, if you don't take it easy you could lose the babies. You already lost consciousness. Fortunately, it was in front of a half confident doctor."

After knowing Dr. McCoy for nearly nine years Spock realized this is his normal way of dealing with patients. This is just how he cares about people. However, Spock wonders if maybe he cares about Nyota more than his other patients.

"I thought you didn't like any doctor that was not on your staff." Nyota said with a teasing smile. It was obvious that she was feeling a little better if she was flirting with the doctor.

"If I could have talked him into coming to Enterprise during the first five year mission, I would have."

"Yes, but I thought I could do more good here. I agree with Dr. McCoy that you need to stay here for at least two days to get you hydrated and to figure out why you can't even keep down a tea designed to alleviate nausea." Dr. M'Benga told her in a very stern voice in an effort to convince her to stay.

"Your copper levels are too low. They are well below the recently established normal levels for a human carrying a hybrid Child. However, that may be because you have not been able to keep any food down in days. Inner species pregnancies are normally more susceptible to spontaneous abortions by 22.3%. You lost consciousness today for a completely unknown reason. It would be completely illogical to take any chances in this regard." That came from the specialist brought in that handles most Inner species pregnancies at the center, Dr. T'Lee.

"It's not the first time I lost consciousness without reason." She argued with the three doctors.

"The first time that happened, you just caught your boyfriend having sex with my yeoman. I count that as a reason." Jim said as he reached his hand across the space to squeeze hers. "Just stop arguing with Bones. You can't win when he's in overprotective doctor mode. Plus he has backup."

"The last time you were unconscious like that, you had a miscarriage. That makes me even more worried." Both he and James looked at the screen in shock with the two doctors in the room.

"You had a miscarriage previously?" T'Lee asked without any emotions whatsoever.

"You were pregnant with his child and he still did that? The dick." The emotional response came from Jim.

"You already knew that. I told you I was pregnant once before when we talked about me being the surrogate for Amanda." Nyota said in her defense.

"Yeah, but you forgot to mention it was the ass hole that got you pregnant before he cheated on you. I'm going to fucking kill him." James was so angry that his heart rate increased by 26.7%.

"I concur with James that it would have been best for us to know about specifics, so that we could have dealt with Mr. Scott appropriately. Engineers accidentally fall out of airlocks all the time." There was something about the entire unfortunate incident that made Spock desire to return to the violent ways of his ancient ancestors. He still wanted Mr. Scott's blood.

"Engineering accidents are perfectly normal. I'm sure we could have come up with something." His James said with his signature 'planning something big' smile.

"I think I'm going to go visit other patients for a few moments. I'll be back to hear your decision. I believe you are needed as well, T'Lee." That was obviously an excuse to leave the premises. According to Dr. McCoy he will receive a message 15 minutes later asking him if Nyota was our shared lover and if we were seriously planning to kill a member of the crew. Supposedly, the good doctor was unable to answer both questions.

"Spock can you please smack your husband for me? I'm too far away and clawing his hand just doesn't have the same effect." It was obvious from her comments that Nyota was irritated with James.

"Tomorrow you can do whatever you want when I bring out the handcuffs." Spock hoped Jim's response was directed at him. He seriously doubted Nyota was healthy enough for such rough play if Spock would allow such a thing.

"That's it. I am not listening to this anymore. I'm calling back in 30 minutes and if you are not an actual patient at that hospital I am flying to New Vulcan myself. You know how much I hate flying." The doctor said right before the screen went blank.

"If I have to deal with your overprotective boyfriend during shore leave, it will be all your fault." James said as he stuck his tongue out at her.

"He is not my boyfriend. He's a friend. Just like you and Spock are my friends." Spock personally believes she is protesting too much, as is the expression. Spock believes that Dr. McCoy would be a well suited long-term partner for Nyota. However, after the unfortunate incident with Mr. Scott, Nyota has avoided any type of long-term relationship.

"So you occasionally have sex with him too? If that were the case, wouldn't he be happier? Would you please let go of my hand. You are hurting me. I think you're drawing blood." Jim said as Nyota squeezed his hand as tightly as possible. "Spock, help me?"

"I think not. You deserve whatever you get for that comment." Spock commented dryly suppressing his inner delight.

"I told you, your husband loves me more." Nyota said sticking her tongue out at him this time.

"That is because you gave him the Vulcan equivalent of spiked coffee via your other Vulcan lover. Though, I am better at giving head then you." To prevent bloodshed Spock decided it was best to change the subject. Even he refuses to talk about the fact that his ex girlfriend had sex with his alternate self so Selek would not be forced to enter into an unwanted bond. He also learned very long ago, never to criticize anybodies skills in the bedroom.

"Did Mr. Scott know that you were pregnant when he…" Spock stops himself, not knowing how to phrase the question without raising Nyota's blood pressure more. That was another thing they were worried about. Spock personally blamed that on her long-term exposure to his father.

"Screwed that other girl in engineering? No. Spock I didn't know I was pregnant. You know how meticulous I am about birth control." As her former lover, he was very familiar with her practices in this regard. Even though they were led to believe that he was sterile, they utilized a physical barrier in addition to her taking a contraceptive hypo when they were together. In light of recent events, such precautions seem logical.

"Do you remember that mission we went on about a month before everything went to hell?" She asked both he and James. He could tell this conversation was making her somewhat uncomfortable by her body language.

"You came with us to the planet so that you could enter their language into the universal translator. I can't remember the name of the planet anymore. I do remember that the vaccines for that mission sucked. I woke up the next day covered in purple polka dots." Spock remembered that morning quite clearly when he found his lover covered in purple dots everywhere, literally.

"You're not the only one who had an adverse reaction to the vaccines. In my case, it deactivated my birth control shot without knowing it. I was barely four weeks pregnant at the time of the incident. The stress most likely triggered the miscarriage. At least that is what Dr. McCoy believes happened." Nyota said with a sigh.

"I still think we should arrange for an engineering accident." James mumbled under his breath. Personally, Spock felt the same way but did not voice his concern out loud.

"There's no point. That was almost six years ago. I'm over it. I'm sitting here pregnant with someone else's child. The past cannot be changed, at least not without red matter being involved. If I agree to stay here without causing a fuss, will both of you back off?" She acquiesced with a great deal of uneasiness.

"Fine." Jim said begrudgingly.

"That is acceptable." Spock said as he moved to sit on her bed.

"Although Amanda is going to be tantrum unhappy because she convinced me to go with her and 'Uncle Selek' to the Vulcan zoo before I threw up on Jim's doctor. I didn't think they would have zoos on New Vulcan. That seems too much like fun." She asked quickly most likely trying to change the conversation from the subject of her miscarriage.

"It is a research institution. Research is logical. Supposedly, fun is not." Spock responded dryly. Jim started laughing.

"You can always cheer me up. We cannot send Selek alone with her. Remember the one shore leave when we let Bones take her to an amusement park by himself because the three of us got stuck doing some PR thing for Starfleet. I'm still grateful that they didn't press charges when Amanda managed to break one of the games because she was curious."

"They were replacing it anyway. I will go." Spock said remembering exactly how bad the amusement park incident was.

"You don't have to. I was joking when I suggested it earlier. I know you hate spending time with the other version of yourself. I would find it creepy too, if I had to hang out with another version of me. We could just tell her No." That comment earned James a very angry glare and laughing.

"Good luck with that. Your daughter is exactly like you." Nyota said with a laugh.

"Or maybe we can let her go unsupervised again. She is six months older. We are letting your father keep her overnight."

"Yes, but we actually like elder Selek." Nyota said.

"Also my stepmother is there to help right now. I do not expect to feel any discomfort now that I no longer see him as an alternate version of myself, but rather as a wiser relative." Early on most of his discomfort around the alternate version of his self was caused by the fact he was convinced Jim liked his counterpart better. This jealousy, for a lack of a better word, went away when James told him that he saw elder Selek as the grandfather he never had.

* * *

**5.51 Years earlier**

Spock was gone, along with he that shall not be named. It was better that way. Leonard kicked out everyone after that ass accused her of sleeping with Spock. Of course, she spent more time with her friend Spock because he was actually around. The only time she saw the man she thought she was in love with lately was when they were having sex even after they moved in with each other recently. She felt foolish.

She thought if they were living together they would see each other more. Instead, she was still waking up alone anyway. Maybe that was a good thing since for the last two weeks she spent every morning throwing up. At least she knew why now.

She was pregnant. The key word there is 'was'. She wasn't pregnant now. She didn't even know before she lost the baby. Yet for some reason, she still felt miserable. She was so numb from the news that Dr. McCoy brought Spock in to console her. She didn't even have time to muster the emotional energy to tell Spock what happened before the person she thought loved her started to feed her ridiculous excuses about why he betrayed her.

Now she was alone again in the private room usually reserved for when Jim does something utterly ridiculous on a mission. The tears that she has been holding in for hours finally started to fall. She couldn't help it. It just hurt too much.

"Do you want me to get Christine? I can even call Spock back down if he promises to not channel his inner ancient Vulcan." She heard Dr. McCoy's say from the front of the door.

"I'm fine." Of course, she was telling him this as tears continued to streak down her face.

"You're not find, no one expects you to be fine after what happened in the last few hours."

"I'm not crying about him. He's not worth my tears."

"He's an ass hole who had to be stoned on his secret stash to do that to you." The doctor's words almost had her smiling again, but not quite.

"I never wanted to be a mom. Motherhood would not work with my 10 year plan. My favorite part about dating Spock was he was supposedly sterile. I didn't even know I was pregnant. Why the hell does it hurt so badly?" She asked him with watery eyes.

"Because it does, you lost your child. Maybe a part of you secretly wanted it."

"But I didn't really have it."

"It doesn't matter. You still lost your child."

"Maybe people like me are not meant to be mothers. Maybe people like me are supposed to live only for their career. I will be that old lady that teaches at the academy until death with 30 cats. People like me are not supposed to have children or families." If she wanted to, she probably could call the other Spock to see if her prediction really was her fate. Honestly, she didn't want to know.

"I seriously doubt that. I thought you had a cat allergy."

"There's a hypo for that. I really don't want anyone else to know about the baby. Everybody is going to be giving me looks of pity already. I don't want to give people another reason." She said as she wiped away her own tears.

"Shouldn't you tell Scotty what happened?"

"No. He will never know. He has no right to mourn our child. Given our last conversation, he probably would just accuse Spock of being the father. I can't deal with his idiotic accusations right now."

"You're the patient. Do you need anything else?"

"I seriously doubt you have a hypo to get rid of this overwhelming brokenhearted feeling."

"Actually yes, but I prefer not to give you any anti depressants."

"That's okay. I think I rather deal with this naturally. Thank you for listening."

"Don't mention it. I have other patients to get to. Will you be okay?" She nodded yes to his question. "I'm sure Jim will be down here any minute after doing something stupid."

"Probably breaking his knuckles by punching out my ex boyfriend. "

"Probably," he said before walking out the door.

* * *

**The Present**

The next morning after spending a portion of the night sleeping on a very uncomfortable hospital chair, Spock arrived at his father's house to the shocking sight of seeing Sarek trying to dress Amanda into something appropriate for the zoo. It was not going well as T'Mandy looked on when she was not playing with her PADD. He had a feeling that if the five year old realized it was socially acceptable to laugh she would probably be doing so.

Amanda was currently wearing her pretty sparkly princess dress with the matching two center meter heels that Nyota forced him and James to get to complete the ensemble.

"It is highly illogical for you to wear an earth style formal dress when we will be walking around in temperatures of at least 35° C. Those shoes are completely impractical for vast quantities of walking." Spock had the highly illogical urge to tape this for Jim to watch later. His love would find this highly amusing.

"But it's pretty." Amanda said right before she walked away to get her Barbie pink PADD. Again, it was Nyota who forced them to buy such a monstrosity. As they would say on earth, Amanda had Nyota wrapped around her finger.

"Where is your mother?" Spock asked his little sister as he looked down at her only to see that the wallpaper on her PADD was an older shot of his husband wearing extremely tight leather pants. He found this slightly disturbing due to the fact that most Vulcans did not develop an interest in the opposite sex until their twenties. Spock personally hopes it is just a case of hero worship. Though, he will be securing himself a copy of that image later. To help pay his way through college, James worked as a 'model'. These images must be from that time.

"She's working." T'Mandy said without looking up.

"It is the day of rest and meditation." On earth, this would be referred to as the weekend.

"She rather be working then accompany us to the zoo. She always prefers work over spending time with us. Father is the one who actually schedules time to spend with us." Spock found that statement peculiar.

He did not count on the fact that his sister would accompany him and Amanda to the zoo. However, it will provide him with an opportunity to bond with her as his husband is forcing him to do.

"That is not a valid argument." Sarek said with at least one eyebrow raised. At that Spock thought it would be best if he intervened.

"Amanda, if you wear the outfit your grandfather has chosen, we will stop afterwards to get you one of those quesadilla things you like so much." Spock personally despises the concoction, but his daughter loves that type of food.

"Can I have cheese covered nachos too?" Amanda asked utilizing the puppy dog eyes she inherited from James.

"Only, if you listen to me and your grandfather for the rest of the morning."

"Deal." Amanda said grabbing the outfit from his father and pushed both men out of the room so that she could change in private.

Spock was slightly uncomfortable being around his father after yesterday's outburst but he felt he could be pleasant simply because his father voluntarily kept Amanda for the night without being asked. Maybe it helped that he was able to get some meditation in at the healing center after he tired of trying to sleep in that horrible chair.

"How is Nyota doing? Has her condition improved? How are the children? His father asked with actual concern.

"Nyota's condition has improved. Both fetuses are no longer showing any signs of distress." Spock responded.

"That is good. I was unaware that dressing Amanda was like a diplomatic negotiation. Is it always like this?" Sarek asked Spock.

"Usually, but that may be because she rarely gets to wear something other than her child size Starfleet uniform."

"That would not be the case if you lived on the colony or even earth. It is obvious that Amanda misses getting to do things normal children do." He sighed at that.

"At this time raising Amanda and the new children in Starfleet is what works best for us. If circumstances change, we will reevaluate the situation. Amanda is exposed to many cultures and languages at a young age. This would not be the case if she was raised on earth or on the colony. This is very beneficial for her. Many people believed it was illogical for you to allow me and mother to accompany you on many of your diplomatic missions when I was a child. I found it quite beneficial. In fact that was why I chose to join Starfleet." He told his father hoping that statement would keep the conversation from becoming extremely negative.

"Why is that?" Sarek asked him.

"During that time I discovered I enjoyed exploring new planets and learning about other cultures. My current position in Starfleet allows me to satisfy my intellectual curiosity. There are still some diplomatic elements to the job but it allows for more research then being a traditional ambassador."

"It seems that your career choice is not that different than my own."

"No it is not." Was all Spock said as Amanda burst out of the room wearing the pants that Sarek chose but not the top. She was currently wearing a blue T shirt that said 'Fencers make better huggers' sent by Captain Sulu three months earlier.

Spock was positive he burned that particular gift from their former helmsman who was just recently promoted to the position of captain of the USS Revolution. At that moment, Spock was wondering where Nyota hid the chocolate.

* * *

30 minutes later after not being able to find Nyota's secret stash of chocolate, he exited the guest room after showering and changing into new clothes. He found Amanda sitting on her bed explaining to her grandfather how she plays Barbies. This would be fascinating and therefore he pulled out the video recording device to preserve this moment.

"Grandpa you have to speak in Vulcan when you play with Snek." Amanda chastise her grandfather in the language of the doll she was holding only making one mistake. Fortunately, it was a language that his father knew.

"I had no idea this children's game could be so educational. How Many Languages do you understand, little one?" Sarek asked his granddaughter in standard Vulcan. Amanda responded by holding up nine fingers.

"Actually if you count various dialects and ancient Earth Languages, the figure is significantly higher. When will elder Selek arrive?" Spock asked Sarek.

"We are meeting him at the research center at 10." His father responded.

"You are coming with us father?" Spock asked keeping his voice as calm as possible. He was not very comfortable with that possibility.

"I asked grandpa last night when he was reading me a bedtime story. I told him all about the conversation you and daddy had yesterday about how daddy was upset that Grandpa was not spending enough time with us." Spock wondered if his daughter repeated that particular conversation verbatim. For the sake of diplomacy, he will not ask.

"You read her a bedtime story?" Sarek never did that with him, no matter how much Spock asked for it as a child. His father said the practice was too human and instead would download a new children's story to Spock's PADD so he may read it on his own. Sarek did not understand that for some illogical reason Spock just wanted to spend time with him.

"I had no choice. Unlike you, she was not satisfied with me downloading a new children's story to her PADD. After an hour, I acquiesced to her demands and read her several of the reports that I needed to go over before I return to work tomorrow. For a three year old, she has a very excellent grasp of interplanetary politics." Spock wonders if he should tell his father that Jim occasionally does the same thing with the unclassified pre mission briefing papers that are appropriate for a small child to hear. At least Spock hopes Jim only does it with the unclassified briefing papers.

"I believe it is time for us to put these things away. We have a special guest we need to pick up." Sarek said as he slowly got up from the floor where he was playing with Amanda. Spock wondered who this guest was.

"Can I bring Snek? He wants to see the living teddy bear." In the interest of preventing a headache, Spock will allow the Vulcan version of Ken to come along. He will also give up all hope of teaching his daughter the Vulcan names for any of the animals that she sees today. He will be satisfied if she actually uses the standard names instead of referring to them by the names of cartoon characters.

"Is Amanda aware that her doll is not a sentient being and is completely unable to communicate with her?" Sarek asked 10 minutes later as they were trying to get Sonnick strapped into his car seat in the transporter.

"Grandpa it is called pretend. Imagination is important. Daddy says thinking outside the box is why he isn't dead yet."

"I seriously doubt my son would say anything like that. What do boxes have to do with prolonging one's life?" Amanda started laughing at that comment. Again, T'Mandy may have done the same thing if she thought laughter was socially acceptable.

"Grandpa you're funny." Amanda said with a smile.

"How can I be funny? Vulcan's do not joke." Spock fought the urge to roll his eyes at his father's comment.

"Daddy does all the time." At his father's perplex expression he decided it was time for clarification.

"Her first use of the term daddy referred to James. Her second use of the term daddy referred to me."

"That is highly confusing. Why did you not teacher her to use the standard term for James and the Vulcan term for you?" His father asked the question that several people have asked him and James.

"Why are you talking about me like I'm not here grandpa? Uncle Bones says that's rude." She was currently giving her grandfather the Kirk puppy dog eyes again. This is the most powerful tool in her arsenal.

"I apologize for my breach of protocol. Why do you not refer to one parent by the word daddy and the other parent by another name?" Sarek asked as he grabbed Amanda and placed her in her booster seat.

"That's illogical. They're both my daddy. Why should I call one a different name?" Sarek had no response to that whatsoever.

Spock chose to stay in the back with the children in hopes of preventing Amanda and T'Mandy from having another physical altercation. However, before the vehicle was even in motion the two were already arguing.

During the five minutes, he spoke to his stepmother last night he discovered the two managed to get into a pillow fight yesterday. Spock along with his father found the behavior highly illogical. Jim thought it was perfectly normal.

"Baby, it's fine." James said the night before as they were lying together in the too tight Bio bed before the doctor prohibited such actions for the rest of the night. Was it his fault Jim's hands have a tendency to wander? Nyota was out of the room anyway for tests at the time.

"I detest that word. There is nothing acceptable about our daughter throwing pillows at her aunt."

"In the normal aunt/niece dynamic it's a little unusual." Spock gave his husband the 'I think you are crazy' look before James gives him a little kiss. "You have to remember that they are only two standard years apart. This is normal behavior for children under the age of five."

"How can I forget that I have a sister that is just slightly older than my own child? I find the situation highly distasteful."

"I seriously doubt your father was planning on having more children if things were different. We probably would not have had children for maybe another 10 years under different circumstances. It's just another consequence of what happened. At lease you are not an only child anymore."

"I was never an only child." Spock said remembering his dead brother that he barely knew.

"I forgot about that. You don't talk about you're older half brother."

"He is deceased. There is no point." For the sake of decorum and the obvious fact that Jim could pick up on the fact he did not want to discuss the situation more, James went back to his original point.

"All I'm saying is that the way they are acting is perfectly normal for siblings. Sam and I did that sort of thing all the time when we were little kids. We were always fighting. When mom was actually around, she would always be breaking us apart. There that was this one time I ended up in the emergency room due to a pillow fight gone wrong." Jim said with a laugh.

"What happened?"

"We accidentally used the vintage pillows that contained real feathers. When they exploded, I broke out in hives. Because Frank was under suspicion of child abuse by the one teacher I had in school that didn't believe the 'I walked into a door' excuse, he actually took me to the hospital that time."

"That was most unfortunate." Spock said as he put his arms around his love.

"That is perfectly normal for siblings. It's what we did. Come to think of it, there's actually a smaller age difference between the girls than me and Sam."

"I do not find the information comforting. You and your brother despise each other. I don't think you've talked to him since the wedding."

"Our current animosity has nothing to do with us beating the hell out of each other as children. I hate my brother because he cheated on his wife of nearly two decades when she was pregnant with their fourth child. According to my nephew Jorge, Sam rarely calls his own children. He's too busy with the new model that he just knocked up. Maybe this time he will actually get to name one of his children Peter. Akia had a strict moratorium on any names that could be a synonym for male private parts. I need to call her back tomorrow."

James loves all his nephews and calls them constantly. When they visited new worlds, they were always sending trinkets back to earth for James four nephews whenever possible.

"All I'm trying to say is it's going to be more of a sibling dynamic and then an aunt/niece dynamic. Let's be honest, Amanda and T'Mandy are going to act more like siblings than you and T'Mandy are because of age alone. Because of the age difference, you're going to treat your little sister like your own child. You know that's what's going to happen when they stay with us for two weeks on earth.

"That's because she is young enough to be my child. Sonnick is actually younger than our daughter. What do you mean they are staying with us on earth for two weeks?" That is when James started kissing him and subsequently started to unzip his pants in the hospital bed.

Their private activity caused Jim's heart rate to increase exponentially, which led to the doctor walking in on Jim digitally stimulating Spock's genitalia. This unfortunate incident was why Spock had the misfortune of sleeping in a chair last night.

Spock was pulled out of his musings when they pulled in front of a residence that looked nothing like a research center. If he remembered correctly, these structures were the first housing units built on the planet. They were designed to be very temporary. From the distance he saw a child exit the building by himself. He instantly realized it was Sunk. His mother was nowhere in sight as he locked the door using his own pass key.

"Where is T'Pring?" Spock asked his father quickly.

"Most likely passed out from whatever substance she consume last night. She usually shows up late on workdays slightly incoherent." His father replied in a language that no one else in the car knew.

"Sunk you can sit up front today. I have deactivated any safety devices that could hurt you."

"Thank you elder Sarek." The child answered without making any eye contact.

"I am sure you did not have time to eat anything. We will up pick something up on the way." This behavior seemed oddly suspicious to Spock. His father despised fast food. Then Spock realized his father was doing this for the child's benefit. He remembered two days ago how quickly sunk ate everything. It seems like that was the first meal he had in a very long time.

Then Spock noticed a bruise that wasn't quite covered by the worn outfit that was slightly too small. During his time at the academy, Spock was required to take a course on spotting the signs of domestic abuse and neglect. It was a relatively new requirement after an incident two years earlier when a commander killed his wife and children during an earth based assignment after years of domestic abuse that his commanding officer never picked up on.

He knew the signs and was positive that his father did as well.

"What is going on?" Spock asked his father when they stopped for breakfast.

"I think you already know." That was his father's only reply.

* * *

Nyota hated hospitals. Maybe that's why she protested so much yesterday when M'Benga and T'Lee decided that she would need to stay at this wonderful institution. Once they mentioned the possibility of a miscarriage, she was ready to stop fighting. She couldn't deal with losing another child. Maybe that's why it's easier for her to pretend that she is just carrying Jim and Spock's child. If something went wrong again, then maybe it won't hurt so badly.

She should just be happy she is sharing a room with Jim and not some complete stranger. She really isn't worried about modesty. She has seen it all before.

They were currently playing the card game aptly titled bullshit that involves vast amounts of bluffing. Because Amanda was safely on her way to the Vulcan zoo they could play the unedited version. Although she was sure Spock would bring Amanda by later.

"Why were you so mad about the cheating thing?" She asked him as a distraction.

"You were mad too." Jim said in his defense.

"He cheated on me. What is your excuse?" Nyota asked him.

"You can trace it back to where most of my issues come from, my very screwed up childhood. In addition to being an abusive bastard, Frank was also a cheating bastard. After seeing what he did to mom I despise anybody who acts like that."

"I get it." She said putting another card on the pile. If she kept him distracted, he usually didn't pick up on when she was bluffing during this game. "We all have a lot of baggage from our childhood. Jim I can take care of myself. I'm over what happened."

"No you're not. If you were over it, you would try dating again."

"I date."

"You fuck. You haven't had a meaningful relationship in over five years. I know because that's what I did before I met Spock. It was easier to not let anyone in. You know Bones likes you."

"What do you think of T'Pring?" She asked changing the subject. Besides Nyota promised Sarek she would talk to Jim about that particular unpleasant situation.

"I'm only letting you change the subject like that because you're pregnant with my child. I hate the bitch."

"That's not new."

"Did you notice anything strange about the way Sunk acted that first night?" She was sure Jim picked up on the signs of abuse. He was the one most familiar with this type of behavior unfortunately.

"You think T'Pring is abusing her son?"

"Pretty much, he was acting like that was the first meal he had in days. I'm pretty sure I saw some bruises to. Wait, why do you not look surprise?"

"I have to tell you something and I need you to promise not to set off the alarms again." She said putting the cards down.

"When anybody starts a conversation like that I become worried." That's when she told Jim about what Amanda saw that night and what Sarek told her yesterday. She was almost positive the alarms were about to go off at any moment.

"He wants us to sue for custody?" Jim asked in complete surprise.

"Yes, he said it is the only logical option. He also said that Sunk would be better off being raised on a spaceship then with that monster.

"Did my father in law actually use the term monster?"

"More like a Vulcan curse word that I cannot repeat, but that was later on in the conversation."

"So he's OK with a grandchild that's not biologically his being raised in space vs. the alternative but not his biological grandfather."

"I think he's just lonely and misses Spock. Let's face it I'm pretty sure that his new marriage is for reproduction purposes only. Not that he doesn't love his other two children in a very Vulcan way. If the timing was right, Sunk is Sarek's distant nephew. That would also make Spock and Sarek Sunk's closest living relatives."

"I figured out the loneliness thing yesterday. If we get through this visit without bloodshed, we will have to schedule more visits, especially after the new babies are born. I guess we better call your mom to see what she thinks about suing the crazy Vulcan lady for custody after I talk to Spock this afternoon."

"That won't be necessary." They heard a voice call from the hallway.

"Mom what are you doing here?" Nyota asked in surprise as Alexis walked in to the room with balloons and another teddy bear for Amanda.

"I thought it would be best to be here to help the fathers of my grandchildren with their unexpected custody issue. In addition, Nyota, I thought I taught you better then to keep something this big from me. I can't believe I just found out my baby girl is pregnant again from the tabloids on the net. Fortunately, Sarek was kind enough to let me know that both of you were in the hospital and told me the real story."

"Mom what are you talking about?" As soon as her mother handed her a PADD with the headline 'Federation hero knocks up ex girlfriend behind husbands back', she started screaming.

**To be Continued**


	11. I'm Sorry

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

**Warning: **Character death. Unfortunately, it's not T'Pring. If anybody deserves to die in this story, she does. However, I may consider it later on if anyone is interested. All suggestions on how to kill T'Pring as painfully as possible are accepted.

**I'm Sorry**

After being a starship captain for almost nine years not that much scared or surprise Jim Kirk anymore. Considering his first day on the job involved watching a planet be destroyed by terrorists from the future, meeting an alternate version of a guy who supposedly despised him that claimed to be a lifelong 'friend', and getting almost killed by his future husband meant everything else paled in comparison. Honestly, how can you top that? However, the woman screaming in front of him still manages to scare and surprise him on a daily basis.

"Alexis what the hell did you just give her? She needs to stay calm for the babies. This is not calm." Jim said in a panic as he grabbed the PADD from Ny. After reading the headline, he understood why she was so pissed off. He was pissed off too. This was bad. He is surprised Pike has not called yet to yell at him.

They were keeping this pregnancy quiet for hundreds of reasons. Even parts of how Nyota became pregnant were considered classified. The only members of the Admiralty that even knew about the pregnancy were Pike and Barnett. Neither party was very happy about the situation, but it was not exactly the first 'aliens made us do it' pregnancy in Starfleet history. It was just the first time it involved three people and some strange miracle fertility drug.

For political reasons the situation was very delicate. The Admiralty were still reviewing their policies regarding children living in space and may decide against it despite what the other Spock said would happen in the future. In light of the massive casualties at the battle of Vulcan the issue of children on starships is much more contentious. He and Spock were being watched very closely. There were certain members of Starfleet that wanted to say no just because it was him and Spock. Jim did not exactly make a lot of friends in the bureaucracy.

Starfleet, even nine years after the massive losses during the battle of Vulcan, could not afford any bad press. It would look very bad if Starfleet decided to punish a crew member who actually got pregnant in the line of duty due to no fault of her own. The circumstances around this pregnancy were not exactly 100% consensual. All three of them were given very powerful drugs before doing whatever resulted in conception. None of them remembered what exactly happened that night, even Spock. If you can't remember having sex, then how can you consent to it?

The only good thing about the situation was due to some sort of cultural misunderstanding involving the individuals responsible for this 'special' pregnancy assuming that Nyota was his and Spock's wife, they were the fathers of Nyota's children. Apparently, most marriages on that planet are between one woman and two men.

Jim could just imagine how bad things would be if they decided to make some random guy or worse Scotty the father. Jim shuddered at the thought. At least the three of them got along and were actually pretty good at the co-parenting thing. All things considered, Amanda was very well adjusted and to be honest three against one odds were absolutely necessary when dealing with there very energetic daughter.

The other part of the cultural misunderstanding occurred when certain individuals from that planet with special gifts picked up on certain hidden desires to have more children surprisingly enough from all three of them. The leaders of the planet thought they were doing a good thing by giving the three this great gift.

The gift of a child in their culture was considered the greatest gift anybody could receive. Things could get really complicated if the givers of said gift found out the Federation and Starfleet did not appreciate their present. Let's be honest no one wants to upset a society that had the potential to create a weapons grade virus that could wipe out an entire planet in weeks with just one original exposure. Jim personally loved their gift even though he was forced to listen to a 30 minute lecture from Pike when he found out about what happened. Pike doesn't believe that they don't remember or that the pregnancy was completely accidental. He may have read a certain doctor's report on a certain allergic reaction to chocolate flavored lubricant that happened about 5.4 years ago.

So really a net article about Nyota carrying Spock's baby is not a good thing.

"I didn't think she would react like this. I thought she would think it was funny." Alexis said as she ran to her daughter and wrapped an arm around her. "Sweetie you need to calm down for the children. Baby, nobody believes that trash." She said comforting her daughter.

In the interest of being tactful, Jim decided not to point out that the only part of the article that wasn't true was the fact he didn't know about the sexual encounter. He was apparently there, even if he actually did not remember how he became the father of twins. He wished he remembered because it was probably fantastic.

"I'm fine." Nyota said after she calmed down a bit. "How the hell did they come up with something like that? How can anyone believe that? You and Spock are the most in love couple I have ever seen. Spock doesn't even know what the term cheating means." She said defensively.

Jim decided that for the sake of his and Spock's health, he would not make any jokes about the fact it's not cheating if you're there watching. As a parent, he was sure Alexis would not appreciate that joke, even though a few months ago she suggested that he or Spock actually sleep with her daughter to give her more grandchildren.

"According to the article or at least as much of it as I could read before I started laughing hysterically, is an unnamed source said you and Spock conceived the twins the old fashioned way without Jim's knowledge. Apparently, you and Spock have been having an affair for years and Jim just found out about it. The source also claims that Jim is leaving Spock for her." Alexis said dryly trying to hide a hint of amusement.

This caused Nyota to break out in laughter. Jim just sighed. Even after being with Spock for more than seven years he still had to deal with crazy fan girls and boys who wanted him. Some were absolutely insane. That's how he got kidnapped on shore leave a couple years ago. Spock hated it.

"They obviously know nothing about Vulcan marriage. It's impossible to hide anything from each other for long. I even know about my husband's chocolate body paint fetish." Jim mumbled under his breath. This caused Nyota to start laughing even more. Alexis just gave him a very puzzled look.

"Oh god, it's another one of those delusional fan girls of Jim's. Whoever it was just got lucky with the fact that I actually am pregnant right now. Jim you really need to deal with your fan club. Those women and men are absolutely crazy." Nyota said as she continued laughing.

"I thought the fact that I was happily married would get them to back off, apparently not." Jim mumbled under his breath.

"What I would like to know is exactly how you got pregnant? I heard it was quite a story." Alexis asked looking at both of them in complete seriousness.

"Well, when a man and woman love each other very much or in this case when two men love each other and also love a woman as more than a friend but less than a lover…" Jim was cut off by Nyota hitting him with a pillow.

"For that alone, Spock is the one having all talks involving reproductive issues with Amanda. You'll scar her for life." Jim caught Alexis rolling her eyes at that.

"For your information, Bones already explained to Amanda where babies come from. He brought out charts and diagrams. It was very informative." Jim said dryly.

Amanda kind of understood how Nyota became pregnant with her new brother and sister. As well as any three year old could considering the unusual circumstances and the fact that a threesome was involved. Jim is positive some adults probably would not understand. However, Jim knew that Amanda was still confused but happy.

Jim and Spock had known for a while that Amanda considers Nyota to be her mom. Amanda's first word was momma and he and his husband knew the word was directed at Nyota. They never corrected her assumption because he and Spock felt the exact same way. They just never told Nyota that.

The idea of motherhood for some reason completely freaked Nyota out, even though she has been acting like Amanda's mom from the beginning. She even breast fed Amanda because their little girl was allergic to synthesized baby formula. They didn't even ask her to do it, she just volunteered. That pretty much cemented the fact that she was Amanda's mom. Nyota even insisted that Amanda have her own bedroom in her new quarters after the Admiralty forced her to move to the other side of the ship in case something happened.

As Jim has learned from his own childhood your parents are the ones who love you, not the people who contribute to your DNA. Pike, Akia, and other Spock were more Jim's family than the people who he actually shares DNA with. Jim saw Pike as his father because of all the lectures and the support. Akia was his sister. Elder Selek also known as other Spock was like Jim's grandfather even if he was married to the younger Spock. It must be the age difference. Jim would say Nyota was also like a sister but that was slightly creepy since they have slept together. She was still family.

After yesterday's conversation about the miscarriage, Jim thinks he understands why his friend is so against the idea of being a mom. Maybe Nyota was terrified of becoming a mom because she already lost one child. Maybe Nyota was in denial about the fact that she is actually pregnant with her own children because she's afraid of losing the twins. This was a very high risk pregnancy due to the DNA mix. The possibility of a miscarriage was slightly below 50%. Maybe she was just protecting herself by pretending that she was not caring her own child.

The same may be said of the Amanda situation. After this mission was over chances were they were probably going to get split up. They already lost Sulu and Chekhov to bigger and better things at the end of the last mission. He knew the Admiralty wanted to promote him and Spock. He was sure some wanted to promote him planet side just so they didn't have to deal with the children in space issue. Even though he absolutely despised the idea of having a desk job, with three children (maybe even a fourth child if they get custody of Sunk) being on planet may be better for the children later on. If that happens, the Enterprise would become Nyota's. He has been grooming her for the last nine years to take over. Maybe she thinks that if that happens she will never get to see Amanda again. Of course, he and Spock would never do anything like that to her, especially not with the new children on the way. It was like they were a divorced couple when they were never really together in the first place and they still get along.

"I'm still waiting to hear this story." Alexis said breaking him out of his thoughts. He would have to talk to her later about the Amanda/Nyota related custody issue.

"I thought Sarek already told you?" Nyota asked from the bed.

"He only told me that it involved an away mission gone wrong. He said I had to hear this story directly from you two." Alexis said looking at both of them using her lawyer voice. She scared him as much as her daughter did.

"You know I think I'm going to go down and get a cup of coffee. They allow that here." Before he could get off the bed Nyota pulled him back down.

"If I have to explain this story you're going to help me." As he stated earlier he was still very much afraid of her and did exactly what she was told.

* * *

When Spock was a small child he was fascinated with many of the vintage children books that his mother brought with her from earth. His favorite one was about a little girl who went with her mom and dad to the zoo to find out about all sorts of animals from earth.

The first thing Spock did when he first read that children's book was bug his mother, in a very Vulcan way, to go to the zoo. He was three at the time. Unfortunately, Vulcan had no such institution back then. At least not an institution that was open to the public. Spock was sure there were several private institutions for research because it was only logical.

The lack of zoos on Vulcan seemed quite unscientific and illogical because Spock believed that all creatures should be studied and preserved. Children should be provided with an opportunity to see these creatures first hand. Instead, on the Vulcan of old, the only way to see most of these animals was to go into the desert or woods that surrounded the various cities, unless you were one of the many researchers studying these animals. As he discovered firsthand going into a desert by one self could be dangerous.

His mother always promised to take him to such an institution when they visited earth or on another planet that had zoos. They never had time. They were too busy being dragged in and out of diplomatic dinners and events to actually get to see what the planet they were visiting was actually like beyond the diplomatic pretense. That's why now Spock always makes it a point that whenever it's safe to do so is to allow Amanda to see what the planet's they visit were really like.

He was 26, by human standards, when Nyota took him to a zoo for the very first time. He wondered if he had the same look of absolute wonderment on his face that his daughter now has as she patted a Sehlat in what on earth would be referred to as a children's petting zoo. Though right now, the zoo keeper a for lack of a better term, seemed shocked that a child with Vulcan DNA was actually touching the animals.

Spock's favorite part about the San Francisco zoo was the exhibit dedicated to Vulcan animals. He remembered going to that exhibit a lot when he was teaching at the academy because it reminded him of home. He always found it interesting that animals that were viewed so commonly on their planet of origin were revered elsewhere. It seemed fitting in a way.

He remembered going back to that exhibit when they returned to earth after the destruction of Vulcan. It seemed like the only home he had left in the world. These creatures were in the same position as him. They were all the last of their kind. Spock wondered how many of the animals here at this institution came from the San Francisco zoo or other such collections.

"He looks remarkably like I-Chaya." Spock said aloud as his daughter tried to hug the bear like creature that looked like Spock's childhood pet. She was trying to convince Sonnick and Sunk that it was OK to touch the animals. One of these days his daughter's tactile nature will get her in serious trouble. He sincerely hoped that she was not allergic to the Sehlat. His sister was currently talking to one of the researchers about the process used to clones some of the animals in the exhibit. Sunk stayed quiet unless Amanda was speaking directly to him. The behavior made it even more obvious to Spock that Sunk was being abused by his mother. Because the children were around, he dared not ask his father if this was the truth.

"That is because he is an exact clone of your beloved pet." Sarek said from beside Spock as he grabbed Sonnick from the pen area. For a moment Spock wondered if his father ever held him like that.

"How is that possible?" Spock said trying to make conversation with his father. Spock never thought he would say this but he wished his counterpart would show up. Selek was already 33.2 minutes late, which was highly uncharacteristic if his counterpart held the same belief when it came to timeliness. At least if Selek was there then Spock would not be forced to make small talk with his father or avoid any conversation relating to T'Pring's treatment of her son.

"When your beloved pet died, I decided it would be only logical to replace him with an exact replica. Therefore, I sent a DNA sample to a company on earth that specialized in the cloning of dead pets. When your mother found out about what I had planned, she pointed out how illogical it was for me to try to replace your pet. Fortunately, the firm kept the sample after all these years." If such a thing were not extremely inappropriate he would be looking at his father in open mouth shock at the revelation. He cannot believe his father would do anything like that. It reminded Spock of the time he spent four days searching the net to find an exact replica of the antique doll that Amanda love so much that was accidentally destroyed. Yes, he could have engineering make a replica of the doll but it did not seem appropriate.

Spock really had no idea what to say after finding out his father did something almost sentimental. Fortunately, his counterpart walked up to him and his father at that moment.

"You are 38.2 minutes late, I hope all is well." Sarek said quickly as Sonnick reached for Selek as he referred to him by the Vulcan word for brother. At that moment Spock wondered how awkward it would be to be more than a century and a half older than someone who was genetically your sibling. Sonnick had no trouble whatsoever with the concept as he allowed Selek to hold him.

"I received a very important transmission from earth right before I left the house that could not be ignored. Something has come up. Unfortunately, I will not be able to stay very long. I believe the zookeeper is becoming bothered by T' Mandy's questions." Selek said pointing to the human zookeeper that obviously was annoyed. At the same moment their mutual little brother wiggled out of his grasp and ran straight to Amanda again.

"You distracted father on purpose." Spock said as soon as their father was out of hearing range.

"Perhaps, I wanted to speak to you privately for a moment without arousing his suspicion. I'm sure the children will be okay with him for a few moments." Spock personally was not so sure but followed his counterpart out of the area reserved for animals that served as common house pets before the destruction of Vulcan.

"Your sister in law Akia called me." Selek said a few moments later. The words instantly caught Spock off guard.

"Why would she contact you?" Spock asked his counterpart.

"She has been trying to get a hold of Jim for a while and when she did not get an answer at Sarek's home, she contacted me. I explained to her about both Jim and Nyota being in the hospital." If Spock were not Vulcan he would be worried. He hoped nothing was wrong with the children but that seemed to be the only logical explanation for Akia contacting Selek. If Spock remembered correctly, and his memory was always perfect, the two did not get along very well at the wedding.

"Is everything okay?"

"Unfortunately, no."

* * *

**One Hour Earlier**

There are certain calls that no doctor ever wants to make. Even after millennia of scientific advancements, immortality is something that remains elusive to most humanoid species. These types of calls are the reason why she decided to become a gynecologist instead of a trauma surgeon. In her line of work, she mostly dealt with the creation of life, not the end of it.

Yet even in the 23rd century, there were still miscarriages and stillborn babies. Scientists still don't understand why some fetuses are just not viable. Akia has always believed that the real final frontier is the reproductive system.

Taking care of Winona was different. Normally she could detach herself from her patients to an extent. It was difficult to do this when the patient was the grandmother of her children and the person who stood by her during the unbelievably messy divorce. The situation was too personal for complete detachment and supposed professionalism.

Akia did her best to keep her comfortable during these last few months after they ran out of options. Yet the entire time, Akia was hoping for a miracle. It was not unheard of in these times. New plants and elements were discovered daily with medicinal qualities. If an antidote to a man made doomsday virus could be synthesized than, how hard was it to find one measly cure for a type of cancer that was eliminated once before. It just had to be possible that some were in the stars or in a lab there was a cure.

That miracle never came. Now that the fight was over because of the worst possible outcome, Akia felt relieved in a way. The sadness was overwhelming, but at least Winona was at peace. Watching a woman who survived four divorces and giving birth to her second child as her first husband sacrificed himself having the life sucked out of her by some disease was heartbreaking.

Damien was with her when she passed away last night. During these last few weeks he would come over so she could have some time alone with the children where Akia didn't have to worry about cancer or her dying former mother in law. He said that she went peacefully in her sleep. That's all Akia could really ask for.

Akia did not believe him at first, even after the scare earlier yesterday. She thought they had three or four more months. She should know better. Sometimes patients who have months, last years and some people who are as healthy as can be dropped dead. By this point in her career, she knew nothing is certain when it comes to the humanoid body. For example, her pseudo baby brother and his husband got there 'friend' pregnant simultaneously.

The hardest part was telling everyone else. Damien offered to do it, but she felt it was her duty, telling her own children was the easiest part. They watched this battle on the front lines and knew that the battle would be lost. They knew their grandmother was gone without her saying a word. Her tear streaked face told them everything they needed to know.

Her youngest son Zachary James, who was only a little younger than Amanda, handed her his teddy bear and gave her a hug. Then he looked up at her and said, "Don't cry mommy. Grandma isn't sick anymore."

Sam was harder to deal with for 1000 different reasons beyond the fact that she had to tell him his mom was dead. In the four years since their divorce was finalized, Akia could count on one hand the number of times she has spoken to her former husband without lawyers being present. He's only seen his youngest son once. None of these occasions were very pleasant. This would be no exception.

He cried. The sound and site broke her heart as she watched him fall apart on the screen. A part of her still loves Sam. Another part hates him. She doesn't wish him death because he's still the father of her four children. Somewhere underneath all the pain, she knows that they were never meant to be and has moved on. It actually helps to know that in another dimension they never met each other. She wouldn't wish for things to be different here, because that would mean her children would not exist and she would have never met her pseudo little brother. That just proves that good can be found in the most stressful situations.

Calling Jim was the hard part. She wished so badly for him to have called her back yesterday but he never did. She actually walked to the com station three times before she actually got up the courage to make the long distance call to New Vulcan. She tried to pretend this was like any other time she told a patient that their loved one died or they lost their child, but she just could not act like that. Her Body was shaking as she finally initiated the call. As she waited for someone to pick up, she thought of a million different ways to start this conversation. All of them were horribly inadequate. No one ever picked up.

She couldn't tell Jim in a message that his mom was dead. It was just wrong on so many levels.

"Jim it's me, I need you or that loving husband of yours to call me back as soon as you get this message." She ended the call, about to let it go at that. Then she began to worry they were avoiding her calls on purpose. This is Jim she was talking about. When it comes to Winona issues, avoidance was his favorite coping strategy.

Then she noticed a missed call from New Vulcan and came up with a wonderful idea. It probably would be easier for Jim to hear the news from an alternate version of his husband anyway.

XXX

The Present

Amanda's grandmother only laughed ten times during the very long explanation of how exactly her daughter got pregnant with twins by two different daddies. She also didn't threaten him with bodily harm, so that was a good sign. Being a lawyer who has seen it all over the years, Alexis was a bit more open minded than some. Okay maybe she just wanted more grandchildren really badly.

After Alexis stopped laughing they began a very long discussion about Vulcan custody laws. Apparently, a certain sneaky father in law contacted Alexis weeks ago regarding this particular situation. Because child abuse was so rare in Vulcan society there weren't many local laws regarding child abuse. Therefore the case fell under the jurisdiction of Federation law because New Vulcan was still a member of the Federation. That worked in their favor at least.

His inner child that was beaten by Frank one too many times knew that they had to get Sunk out of that house. Jim just wasn't sure if suing T'Pring for custody was the best course of action. He remembered how much he absolutely hated being uprooted from earth as a child. In addition, what if Spock didn't want to raise another child. As much as Jim wanted to help any child who was in a situation like this, he wouldn't do anything without Spock's consent.

He has been trying to mentally contact his husband for the last hour but he hasn't been able to get a hold of him. The last thing he remembers was being sent an image of their daughter trying to hug the living teddy bear. He really hoped that she was not allergic to it. It was bad enough that he and Nyota were already in the hospital. They really needed to stop making a habit out of these hospital visits on vacation.

"Honestly, Alexis what do you think we should do?"

"As your lawyer I say you need to do things by the book. As the grandmother of your children, I say get that baby out now. I doubt the kidnapping charges would stick."

"I hope you are joking. After all this time, the nuances of human humor still elude me." He heard Spock say in a voice that was slightly more monotone than usual. Forced quality time with daddy dearest must have done horrible things for Spock's mental health. He would have to make it up to Spock later after all the children were asleep and they figured out how to activate the soundproofing in the guest room.

"Of course, it was a joke." Alexis said with a smile. "I guess you already know about the situation with your a former fiancé."

"I know that Sunk's mother is unfit and currently passed out after bingeing on a 24 pack of cheap dark truffles. Elder Selek is currently at Sunk's house helping him pack. He will drop him off at my father's house later. It would be illogical to let him stay in a place like that." Maybe that's why Spock has been blocking him for the last hour.

"I'm going to assume that's the Vulcan equivalent of getting smashed on a fifth of Jack Daniels?" Alexis asked.

"Something like that, only stronger." Jim mumbled under his breath.

"That will probably help your case. I assume you want me to go ahead and file the paperwork for emergency custody."

"That would be logical."

"Where is Amanda? I thought she would be up here telling me about all the fun things she did at the zoo. Please tell me you brought pictures?" Nyota asked from the other bed. Spock quickly walked over and handed her a PADD.

"She is currently downstairs scandalizing my father simply because she is eating nachos without food gloves."

"That was why your father was so freaked out when he saw her eating a grilled cheese with her hands the other night."

"I'm going to go file the emergency papers. I have a couple of acquaintances here that could help with the child custody aspects of the case in Vulcan family court. However, first I'm going to go give my grandbaby her new teddy bear." Alexis said walking over to grab the bear that was sitting on Nyota's bed.

"I'll be back baby." She said, as she proceeded to kiss her daughter on the head and then on her stomach before leaving.

"Okay so why did you leave the zoo early? You and your dad didn't get in a fight at the zoo did you?" Nyota asked.

"Vulcans do not fight."

"You do remember bending me over a console with your hands around my neck?" Jim asked him.

"You usually refer to that as foreplay." Spock said as he sat next to him on the bed.

"Do I need to remind you that I was dating you at the time of the incident?" She said it as a joke more than anything else.

"Speaking of supposed unfaithfulness, we may have a slight public relations problem." Jim said as he moved to show Spock the PADD with funny headlines such as 'So much for Vulcan fidelity.' But he was stopped by Spock kissing him.

"It is of no consequence. We have more important things to talk about."

"I guess abusive moms are more important than stupid reporters and crazy fan girls." Jim said as he started kissing Spock again.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom for a very long time and when I get back in ten minutes I don't want to see you guys making out any more."

"Are hand jobs okay?" He asked with an unbelievably sweet smile.

"No, you will scar the poor Vulcan doctors for life." She said slamming the door behind her.

"Can I still get a hand job?" Jim asked as he kissed Spock again.

"Later once the doctor has approved you for such strenuous activities."

"Can I give you a hand job?"

"Don't even think about it" Jim heard a voice yell from the bathroom. Maybe sharing a room with Nyota was a bad idea.

"That would be inappropriate. We must discuss your mother."

"Let's not, we only have eight more minutes." He said as he tried to kiss Spock again.

"James she's dead." He could not have heard him right. Spock used a contraction, Jim must be hearing things. She is not dead.

"What?" He asked in disbelief because it's just not true.

"She died last night in her sleep. According to the call I had with Akia she has been sick for some time but did not want to worry you."

"God, that is so like mom. She's always like that. Don't correct my grammar Spock. She's not dead." She couldn't be. So he hated her most of the time but she couldn't be gone. That would mean that he would be an orphan and he couldn't deal with that.

"I am sorry, T'hy'la." Spock said as he pulled him closer against his body and placed his head on Jim's neck.

"She's not dead." He said in a whisper as he felt Spock wrap him in love from their bond. The only thing he could feel was Spock. He was so numb.

"I am sorry."

**To be continued.**


	12. Mother and Child: Part one

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Sorry this took so long. I will try to update more often in 2011.

**Warning: **Lots of angst.

This story will be going up to M in the next chapter for K/S adult playtime fun.

**Note:** The events on Tarsus IV take place a little later in this universe than in the Prime Universe. As I used in one of my other stories, due to the advances in technology in the new timeline, the scientists were able to synthesize an antidote for the fungus attacking the crops. However, the fungus eventually mutated which led to the famine and chaos.

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Mother and Child: Part one

**Almost 30 years earlier**

Four your old James Kirk sat in the principal's office waiting for his mom to come get him. Jimmy hated school. He was smarter than almost all the other kids in his class, even though he was the youngest. That's why he started at three. Because he was the youngest kid in class, everybody made fun of him especially Johnny.

School was also when James realized that he was different. Before he started attending Riverside Elementary, Jimmy didn't think anything was unusual about the fact that he only had a mommy, Nana, and a big brother who was really mean. He also had a Step Frank now, but Jimmy didn't like him and tried not to think about him. Just because he was married to Jimmy's mommy doesn't mean he is his dad. Nana didn't like Frank either.

He didn't think it was that unusual that he lived alone with his Nana and brother most of the time because his mommy was an engineer on a really big starship before she married the Step Frank recently. He thought it was normal because that was the only life he ever knew.

Yes, Jimmy knew his daddy died the day he was born but he didn't think there was anything weird about that. The only thing that meant was he got his new toys and cake a few days earlier on New Year's Day when all the other kids had to wait for their actual birthday. Jimmy thinks Frank only got him lots of gifts last time so he could have grownup play time with Jimmy's mommy during her time on earth.

When James got to school he quickly realized he was different. Most of the other kids in school had daddy's who played catch and taught them how to ride their bikes. He didn't have that. His friend Marissa, from down the road, actually had two daddies. Grandma Kirk said something really mean about that. Jimmy did not understand why she said stuff like that because Marissa's daddies were really nice and always invited him to go places with them. They were in Starfleet too. Jimmy's Nana didn't like it either and told Grandma Kirk to "go F herself". She didn't actually say F, but the other F word that Jimmy is not allowed to repeat.

Jimmy was not jealous of the other kids that got to partake in the various father child activities at school when Jimmy got to spend additional time in the principal's office because his mom was too busy to come and his Nana was allergic to everything just like him. (Frank didn't do anything with Jimmy or Sam unless it led to more grownup playtime with their mommy. Unfortunately, his mommy hasn't discovered that pattern yet.) Okay maybe he was a little upset that he was being punished for the fact his daddy died, unfortunately nobody on the faculty understood this.

Jimmy would be perfectly OK with the fact that his Nana and his uncle were the ones who taught him how to play baseball if his other neighbor and classmate Johnny did not constantly call him little orphan Jimmy. Actually that was one of the nicer things Johnny called him. A lot of the things Johnny said to him involved words that he was not allowed to repeat. Jimmy told his teacher about the mean things that Johnny called him but he didn't do anything about it. He didn't tell as mom me because she was at work or with the Step Frank. His kindergarten teacher Mr. Nelson told Jimmy it was perfectly normal for boys to tease each other. When Jimmy told the principle what was happening, Dr. Madison said the exact same thing and did nothing about all the nasty things that Johnny said to him.

After being ignored almost all year by his principle and teacher Jimmy decided to take things in to his own hands. Nothing that occurred on the playground that afternoon was Jimmy's fault because if someone else would have intervened Johnny's nose would still be in one piece.

This afternoon on the playground after Johnny called him orphaned boy and said some really not nice things about Jimmy's daddy Jim pushed Johnny off the old fashion jungle gym. Then Jimmy punched him in the nose when he tried to attack him. Johnny was currently on his way to the hospital.

The principle was shocked Jimmy was able to do so much damage considering he was two years younger than Johnny. So now after sitting through a stupid lecture about why hitting other people is wrong Jimmy was waiting for his mother to come get him. At least his mom was actually planet side right now and has been since the wedding to Frank. She usually works off planet but Frank doesn't like it. Jimmy believes that's because she's less sad in space.

Jimmy's mom gave him the 'you're in so much trouble' look as she walked into the principal's office. James could actually hear shouting going on inside from the hallway. His mom was not happy. Apparently she was called in during the middle of play time with the Step Frank.

"What do you mean you don't know why James hit Johnny? Did you ask? I think you should do that before you suggest my child repeat kindergarten just so he can adjust socially." His mother said using the voice she used on Sam when he did something stupid.

"There was no point. It's obvious that James is acting out due to the lack of a strong male role model at home. We should have never allowed him to start kindergarten at three, despite his outstanding test scores. I hope things improved after you remarried, but that doesn't seem to be happening." Dr. Madison said in her normal I am better than you voice.

"I thought you had a dozen different degrees in child psychology. You are an absolute idiot. Stop making stupid assumptions." Jimmy heard his mom say right before she open the door.

"Jimmy, why did you hit Johnny?" His mom asked him in a much kinder tone than earlier.

"He called me orphaned boy again." Jimmy responded without looking at her.

"I told you the entire incident was connected to the lack of a strong male figure." Jimmy could see his mom rolling her eyes at this. She was not happy.

"That's not what my child said. He just told you he was being bullied by one of his classmates because his father died a war hero. What else did Johnny say to you Jimmy?"

"He said I was weird because I didn't have a real daddy. He also said that daddy killed himself so he could get away from us. He said daddy didn't love me. All his friends would say the exact same things." At that moment Jimmy felt his mom's arms wrap around him.

"Baby, that's not true. Nothing he said was true. Your daddy did what he did because he loved you. Did you tell anybody what Johnny was saying to you? " She said kissing Jimmy on the forehead. He was really glad his friend Marissa went to a cool private school and wouldn't see this.

"I told Dr. Madison but she said that it was normal. He's been doing it all year." Jim told his mom in a whisper.

"You did nothing about this." His mommy said as she looked directly at the principle.

"It's perfectly normal for children to tease each other." Even at four years old Jim knew that was stupid.

"That's not teasing. Bullying hasn't been acceptable for almost 250 years." his mom let go of him and was now right in the face of Dr. Madison.

"That's why I called you in today. Your son's behavior was completely unacceptable. Therefore we are suspending him for the next three days." His mom started laughing when the doctor said that.

"My son is the one who was acting unacceptable?" His mommy asked just as she looked ready to attack the really mean principle lady. "You're actually suspending a four year old for defending himself when you did nothing to protect him." There was the angry tone again.

"According to the school's code of conduct James should've been suspended for five days but because of his age I made a concession." Dr. Madison said without blinking.

"Thanks ever so much." By her tone Jimmy was pretty sure she was not really thanking the principle. "What about the other boy? What punishment will he be getting for terrorizing a child two years younger than him?"

"Why would he be punished? He was the one who was viciously assaulted." Dr. Madison said this in a way that made Jimmy think that she thought his mom was crazy to ask such a thing.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. Forget the suspension. I'm not having my child stay in a school like this. Come on Jimmy, we are leaving. I'll stop by later today to sign the transfer papers once I find a suitable school to send my child to, preferably one where the principle is actually sane." His mom said angrily as she grabbed his hand.

On the way home he heard his mommy say lots of other words on his do not repeat list. Despite his mommy's angry reaction he was grounded for the next two weeks for punching Johnny but it was worth it. That meant no video games, net access, or playtime with his real friends. His mom made it up to him by playing Starfleet soldier with him with the vintage toys that belonged to Grandpa Tiberius. This also meant that Jimmy had to spend more time with the Step Frank.

A few days later after the incident at school Jimmy started classes at Riverside Gifted with his friend Marissa. The school was really fun and was mostly there to accommodate the children of all the Starfleet personnel moving into the area because of the new shipyard dedicated to Jimmy's daddy.

This school was so much better because the principle was not a complete idiot and they had the coolest things. Most of the kids there were also Starfleet brats and a few of his classmates knew what it was like to have a parent die in the line of duty. Jimmy was really happy there because he felt normal again.

He stayed that way until his mom went back into space again a few months later like he knew she would. Unfortunately, this time he had to stay with the Step Frank instead of Nana. Frank was not very happy about this and yelled at him a lot. He also drank a lot. He blamed Jim for his mom going back into space. Jim didn't understand why he was so angry because his mom always went back into space.

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The Present

Nyota barely remembers when her biological mother died. She was maybe four at the time. Her mom wanted to go visit her brother who worked on a different planet really far away and she just never came back home. Nyota remembered her parents were fighting a lot back then and she wasn't really surprised that her mom was leaving for a while.

She remembers her dad being really sad a few days after her mom left and not being allowed to watch her favorite shows live on the net. Nyota remembered lots of people coming to the house crying and bringing all her favorite foods. She also remembered people bringing her lots of toys back then. A few that were saved by Alexis, were now in Amanda's possession.

Then she remembered her father taking her to her favorite restaurant to tell her that her mommy was never coming back. At four, she didn't understand and therefore didn't believe him. She did not even cry. As the days went by and her mommy never came back she understood what her father told her that day.

It wasn't until her first year on the Enterprise that she had the courage and the security clearance to find out what really happened. On the way to visit Nyota's uncle the ship her mom was on was attacked and no one survived the encounter. Pretty much everything else in the file was redacted. Nyota doesn't even know the planet of origin of the attackers. She probably had a high enough clearance to know the details now, but honestly she just didn't want to.

Because of that experience, she understood Spock's complete lack of reaction when his mother died nine years ago. Dealing with a parent's death is hard at any age and everyone deals with it in their own way. Therefore, she decided to be whatever Spock needed her to be even if that meant letting him push her away. During that time, she started to realize that she and Spock were the best of friends but they were never meant for more than that.

Even though she really did need to use the restroom, she actually left so she could give Jim and Spock some privacy. Spock didn't have to say a word to her, just the way he acted told her something was wrong. Nyota just didn't think it would be that.

As soon as she heard the words her mind instantly flash back to almost 30 years ago, when she found out that her mom wasn't coming back or nine years ago in an elevator when she kissed her then boyfriend as she tried to apologize for the fact his mother was killed by a very disturbed Romulan. For some reason at that moment she ran a hand underneath her shirt over the baby bulge that was just starting to show. She realized that the two children inside of her will never have the opportunity to meet any of their biological grandmothers. That's when she started to cry.

She stayed in the bathroom for a few more minutes waiting for the sound of tears from Jim that never came. Instead, all she heard was Jim denying that his mom was dead over and over again. This made her cry more. She blamed the pregnancy hormones.

Nyota open the door tentatively to see Jim cradled in Spock's arms on the bed once her own tears dissipated. She quickly walked over to him and sat on the other side. She kept repeating I'm sorry over and over again as she kissed his forehead. The gesture was one of friendship. His hand wondered under her shirt to make contact with the babies. He would always touch her stomach when he was stressed during her pregnancy with Amanda. She was sure he craved the same comfort now.

Of course, at that moment a female nurse who happened to be completely Vulcan walked in and freaked out in a very Vulcan way because of their inappropriate behavior. She was sure everybody was thinking she was sleeping with both Jim and Spock. She really didn't give a fuck at the moment because her friend needed her.

After being chastised by the doctor because of the incident with the nurse, James became completely withdrawn from everything. He didn't cry once. He also would not allow herself or Spock to comfort him. Though, he did rub her stomach a lot.

She missed Jim's conversation with his sister in law due to more tests. If she gets scanned one more time she was going to hurt someone. Even light years away, Dr. McCoy was driving her up the wall with his overprotective behavior.

According to Spock, the conversation with Akia lasted only 15 minutes but it was anything but pleasant. (She's not even going to speculate on the reason why the hospital room has long distance communications capabilities.) There was lots of screaming and crying during that conversation. Unfortunately, all the crying was done by Akia and the screaming done by Jim.

He was angry that he was never told that his mother was sick. He was angry that they lied to him about the real reason why his mom missed his wedding. He was angry that his mom was dead, not that Jim would admit that, because he was a stubborn bastard.

Akia confirmed this when Nyota called her the moment she was alone. Akia was a mess. When Nyota called her friend it looked like Akia had been crying for hours. She couldn't believe that Jim's mother was that sick for almost four years and Akia never told anybody. Even she was a little upset during her conversation with Jim's pseudo sister.

"Why didn't you tell us? You should have told us yesterday when you called. If you told me Winona was dying I would've dragged my stubborn mule of a captain to the com station to talk to her. At least then he could have said goodbye." Nyota was tearing up again by this point in the conversation.

"Don't you think I want to tell him everything? She wasn't just my former mother in law or friend, she was my patient. She didn't want me to say anything and legally I couldn't. Why do you think I was trying so hard to get a hold of Jim? I thought we had more time. We should have had months." Akia almost sounded like she was going to start crying again.

"Nothing is certain." Nyota whispered to herself.

"It wasn't like I didn't try to get her to tell Jim earlier. Winona Kirk is the most stubborn person I have ever met and I was married to her son for several years. She didn't even try to call Jim until we completely ran out of other treatment options. He was the one who didn't want to talk to her."

"Why did she wait?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Because this is Winona we are talking about. She always tries to fix things. She tries to make everyone else happy by herself no matter what the consequences. When Jim was four he was having trouble at school and Winona went back into space just so she could send him to some really posh private school. If you ever had the displeasure of meeting Jim's step uncle and former stepfather Frank, he will tell you that his resentment for Jim and his cheating on Winona was because of her decision to take an off planet job instead of staying with him to be the good wife. Sam also resented his brother for that decision."

Considering some of the conversations she has had with Jim over the years he probably knows nothing about why his mom went back into space. He was convinced that she stayed away from him because he reminded her too much of the dead love of her life.

"She never told him about that?" Nyota asked quickly already knowing the answer.

"No. She did the same thing when she shipped Jim off to live with his Nana on Tarsus IV. Winona didn't think Sam and I could handle taking care of our own child and Jim. She was also pissed off at Sam for being so reckless. She never even talked to us; she just did it because she thought it would be better for everyone."

"They're too much alike." Nyota mumbled under her breath.

"Is my little brother still in the hospital? Honestly, how can someone get hospitalized for an allergic reaction to pretzels?" Akia asked her.

"I don't really know. It's Jim. The doctor let him leave a couple of hours ago despite the stress. I found that shocking. Although, I personally believe that was done so the Vulcan staff members would stop freaking out every time Jim and Spock started holding hands." Akia smiled when she said this. Then her friend/other doctor started asking her all sorts of baby related questions. She acquiesced to her demands because she had a feeling Akia was trying to distract herself from the messiness of death.

Now that the long conversation was over she felt completely alone in the hospital room with only the company of James 'the bear' Kirk. Amanda left it with her after she kissed her and the baby bump goodbye. Her mom called her an hour ago letting her know that she would come by with some edible food as soon as she was done dealing with emotionless bureaucrats for the day.

That left her to be alone with her thoughts. That was not a good thing. Nyota didn't want to think about the deaths of mothers under various circumstances. She also didn't want to think about the fact that she kept her hand on the baby bump almost the entire time since she found out about Winona's death. Just touching her babies made her feel better.

After 30 minutes of trying to find something decent to stream she gave up and decided to utilize the fact that she actually did have long distance communications capabilities. She figured she better call her friend Christine because she would probably be worried especially if she heard about her hospital visit, saw the tabloid story about the babies, or if news of Jim's mother's death hit the web. Winona Kirk despite her dubious personal life was responsible for several great scientific advancements. She was also the widow of a war hero and the mother of the guy who saved earth. Her death would be important.

Even if it didn't make the tabloids yet, she was sure that Leonard would have told Christine everything by now. For a guy, her friend is such a gossip. Christine and Leonard were good friends and colleagues but it never went past that for some reason even though Christine tried. When Nyota asked her friend why it didn't work out, she wouldn't tell her.

She was right her friend was worried and Leonard did tell her everything. Apparently he was so worried that Christine had to convince Leonard not to take the first shuttle to new Vulcan. She reassured her boss that her former colleagues on new Vulcan knew what they were doing.

By the end of the long conversation Christine offered to be on the first shuttle to new Vulcan just for emotional support. Nyota told her friend it wasn't necessary because her mom Alexis was already there.

She learned from Christine that the tabloid situation was worse than her mother let on. After the story broke due to the unknown source some idiotic cyber terrorist group/freedom fighters who believe the federation should not keep any secrets hacked into the Starfleet database recently and thought it would be a great ideal to post certain very sensitive mission details about the incident on Trie-Alpha-Omega including certain details about how she got pregnant.

Despite the fact she felt violated due to the invasion of privacy she was worried. This whole thing had interplanetary incident written all over it and would probably mean that Trie-Alpha-omega will no longer want to be part of the Federation. At that moment she was really happy that nobody knew that she was in a hospital room on New Vulcan. Finally after 20 minutes she ended the call with her best female friend only to receive another call minutes later. She was positive Pike was calling her only because of the severity of the situation. .

"I'm guessing your calling to yell at me." She said to her admiral waiting for the explosion to occur.

"Why? You didn't give an exclusive to some crazy intrusive reporter, did you?" He asked her with a smile. This unnerved her.

"No. Like there is any way I would want to runaway with Jim. The man drives me crazy. Also, Jim is the only person who can stand being with Spock full time. He also drives me crazy. I am his best friend and even I want to punch him out 99% of the time when he goes extra Vulcan." She said with a laugh.

"I thought so. I also doubt you were the idiot who illegally downloaded bootleg music files from the group reincarnation of L G. You think after over 250 years people would stop falling for that stupid trick." She heard Admiral Pike's say before a sigh of irritation.

Considering how many times she's had to write people up for stupid cyber tricks, she is really not that surprised. She has lost count of all the people that she has reprimanded for things like posting their actual location or images of dignitaries on their IntergalacticFaceBook page. She also remembered hearing about how easy it was for Jim to hack into the system to reprogram the Kobayashi Maru. You would think after that incident they would have improved cyber security.

"I'm much more of a retro R&B person. If you're not calling about the public relations nightmare, why are you calling?" She asked hesitantly.

"While Jim was arguing that he was perfectly OK with the fact that his mother died yesterday, he let me know that you were in the hospital. His ever loving husband gave me your contact information. I just wanted to see how my new pseudo grandchildren are doing." Pike said with a smile trying to be light.

"They are good. Their heart rates are just right and they are only making me run to the bathroom to throw up half the time. You didn't call Jim to yell at him for the public relations fiasco?" She asked quickly as the question popped into her head.

"No. I'm sure Spock broke him out of the habit of illegally downloading files on classified systems a long time ago." Pike said with a little laugh. "During a meeting of all the admirals to discuss the netleaks thing, the admiral also known as stepfather number two burst into tears and started talking about how Winona was never going to meet her new grandchildren. About 5 minutes before walking into the meeting, Nathan received the phone call about her death. I was elected to see how our favorite captain was dealing with it." She was not that surprise. Pike was good at figuring things out and she was sure that Jim would call his pseudo father as soon as he moves out of the denial phase. What did surprise her was how he found out.

"I'm personally surprised he was that upset considering what he did to her. You do know what he did to her?" She asked putting one hand on her hip.

"That incident is taught in command classes and also made the Starfleet gossip mill years before Jim ever told me the details. I have also worked with Winona a few times and she considered me a friend. Nathan told me that he and Winona were talking to each other again when I was getting the details after the meeting from hell. At least that explains why he has been so supportive of changing the policy to allow children to live with their parents in space. He's the one who actually is pushing for the policy changes." Again she was surprised by this information.

"I'm not seeing a connection here. From what Jim told me, step dad number two was never very child friendly and believed firmly that children should stay planet side even if they were teenagers."

It was a long dysfunctional story that she was not planning to get into. Let's just say it's another reason why Jim ended up with his Nana on Tarsus right before the food supply was taken out by mutated fungus.

"People change." Admiral Pike said looking at her pointedly. "Guilt can be a wonderful motivator. So can an angry ex wife who believes you owe her something. Apparently, Winona was willing to talk to her ex husband to make sure her grand baby was able to stay with her two daddies in space." It seemed logical but it didn't make sense to her given everything Jim has told her over the years.

"I just don't believe that. She spent Jim's entire childhood in space and did not even think about challenging the regulations so Jim and Sam could be with her." She didn't think about what Akia had told her earlier. She was sure Winona didn't have to work in space because of the Kelvin money. "This was a woman who couldn't even be bothered to show up to her own son's wedding." She said as she got angry again.

"You probably know by now that it was not her choice. Being in space when the children were growing up wasn't her choice either. You probably heard stories about Frank."

"That he was an abusive ass hole. Yes, I've heard lots of stories." She said bitterly.

"He was also an alcoholic that didn't work an honest day in his entire life. Someone had to provide for the kids and pay for Jim's private school education." He said defending her.

"What about the settlement money from the Kelvin?" She only knows about that because Jim refered to it as blood money one time he was completely wasted.

"There is one part of my dissertation that my advisor made me cut out. It was almost 13 years before the federation settled the lawsuits with the survivors of the Kelvin disaster. How many people are still waiting regarding settlements from the battle of Vulcan?"

"A lot." She realized he had a point.

"Sometimes people do things for their children that nobody else knows about. Take you for example. Does anybody know that you have turned down your own ship just so you can stay with Amanda?" She could not believe he just asked her that.

"I did not turn down my own ship. I turned down being a first officer. I only double majored in linguistics and command because I was bored and my mom thought it would be a good idea for me to be well rounded. I don't even like being a second officer that much. There's too much paperwork. I am a communications officer. That's what I love doing." What she said was mostly true.

"That's absolute BS. If you wanted your own ship it would be yours. You stay on Enterprise for Amanda and maybe Jim and Spock."

"Jim and Spock are just my friends." She said in her defense focusing on that part of the accusation.

"You do remember you're talking to somebody you actually knows how you got pregnant?"

"Thanks to the hackers everybody knows that now. I was drugged and so were they. It doesn't count." She said defensively.

"Actually that part was never added to the files, thankfully. What about that incident five years ago?" She is going to kill Jim for telling him that.

"Bad breakup revenge sex in hopes of avoiding a transfer. I think I am going to go throw up now." She said ending the call. She probably would have gotten in trouble for doing that if it wasn't for the fact she really did have to throw up.

* * *

There's a reason why she enjoyed being a lawyer for Starfleet, she didn't have to deal with child abuse cases usually. Alexis absolutely despised those types of cases. The thought of anybody abusing their child made her sick. She just couldn't understand somebody not taking care of such a precious gift. Maybe she felt that way because she couldn't have any biological children of her own unless she utilized genetic engineering and a surrogate. Because she had Nyota, she didn't see a point in creating a child that would be genetically hers when she already had a wonderful daughter.

After leaving her baby girl, she decided to go speak with Sarek who filled her in on all the messy details including the evidence that he has been collecting over the last few months. The situation was not pretty.

It was her grand baby who told her about her other grandmother dying. She wanted to go back upstairs and give her condolences but she would wait until later. Because of that she wondered if this was the best time for Jim and Spock to sue T'Pring for custody but they couldn't leave that child with that woman for one more day. Alexis personally wanted to strangle her with her bare hands. Actually she wanted to run over the bitch with an old fashion car. Maybe she could accidentally fall into a lava pit. Do they even have lava pits on new Vulcan?

This led to her spending the entire afternoon dealing with emotionless bureaucrats and half-wit lawyers. Surprisingly enough most of the emotionless bureaucrats were non-Vulcan. By 7:00 planet time she was returning to her daughter's hospital room with takeout because Ny absolutely despises hospital food. She is actually surprise her daughter adjusted to replicated food. Just as she was about to walk through the hospital room door she heard her daughter speaking to someone.

"Grandpa Pike is a good admiral, but he's absolutely stupid sometimes babies. Even though I love both of your daddies very much, it's not that type of love. Someday I'll explain the sex thing when you're older as soon as I figure out that component of our relationship. I bet you're laughing at me in there. At least you can't kick mommy yet even if you keep making me throw up." Alexis almost gasped when she heard her daughter refer to herself as 'mommy'. Jim and her daughter's friend Leonard told her all about her daughter's deep denial about the babies.

"I just said the M word in relation to you guys. Maybe that was what he was really talking about. You two and your sister are really my children. I already love you too as much as I love your sister even though you're not here yet. Sometimes I'm afraid to even amid that to myself because I don't want to lose the three of you." Alexis watched her daughter say this as Nyota ran a hand lovingly over her stomach.

"You're finally accepting the fact that you have been a mom for over four years?" Alexis asked her as she walked into the room disrupting the mother child bonding moment.

"Yes."

* * *

**Almost 30 years earlier**

Because her husband of only a few months was pissed off at her for going back into space she decided to spend her last night on earth with her baby boy. Sam was angry at her as well but Jimmy understood. Little Jimmy was fast asleep in his bedroom as she sat on the edge of his bed. She quickly ran a hand through his unruly blonde hair. He looked so much like George that it hurts sometimes.

"I know you don't understand why I'm going back into space but it's for you. You need to go to a school where people appreciate the uniqueness of you. If that means I have to spend a few more years in space to make sure you get the best, I will do it. I love you baby boy." She leaned over and kissed her youngest son on the cheek before leaving. She did not notice the eight year old hiding in the hallway.


	13. Mother and Child: Part II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Now that _You Don't Have To Be My Boyfriend _is over, I hope to work on this story more.

**Warning:** sexual content

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Mother and Child: part two

31 years earlier

According to his internal clock it was 1:33 AM planet time when he woke up to the sound of something breaking and his mother Amanda, screaming. Being the concerned child that he was, Spock felt the need to see if his mother was alright. He wondered if his half brother stopped by for a late night visit. Sybok didn't live with them anymore because he always made Amanda cry a lot. When he came by the sounds of shouting and broken furniture were particularly common.

When he entered the kitchen moments later, Spock knew his mother was anything but fine by any definition of the ambiguous word. The crashing sounds most likely came from the antique ceramic dishes that Amanda received from her family. The pieces littered the floor along with drops of red blood that could only come from Amanda.

He could hear his mother crying. These were not the 'happy tears' that he occasionally sees from her when he excels in school. These were angry bitter sobs that caused his mother's entire body to shake as she lay on the floor. In his entire existence, he has never seen his mother give way to such a human display of emotions. This frightened him in ways he could not understand at such a young age.

He would go to his mother but she was not alone. Sarek was already there in the kitchen sitting on the floor alongside Amanda with his arms now wrapped around her. Spock has never seen his parents engage in such an intimate embrace before.

"It is perfectly logical that because you are human that you feel a sense of loss and sadness over your father's death. It is also perfectly logical to express those human emotions through tears or even breaking furniture. According to the file I read, this is perfectly normal human behavior." Spock heard his father say to Amanda in his normal monotone.

"I'm not sad Sarek, I'm angry." Amanda said between sobs as she wiped her own tears away. "It's 2236, who the hell dies of a heart attack anymore?" Even Spock could hear the anger in her voice.

"If you like I can find out the exact numbers, but I believe your question was rhetorical in nature." Sarek told her as he kept holding on to her as her body continued to shake with sobs."

"There's no point. If you did actually find out the statistics, I bet the majority died due to neglect or stubbornly refusing to seek medical attention just like my father. He's dead because he wouldn't listen to the doctor when he was told to change his diet and other behaviors. He felt chest pains for weeks but he didn't see a doctor. He is as stubborn as a mule." Amanda said as her tears gave way to more anger.

"I had no idea mules could be stubborn. I was unaware that earth animals could display emotions." Spock heard his mom laugh through her tears at his father's comment.

"It's an expression. I'm just so angry at him. How could he leave me like this?" Spock was expecting his father to answer Amanda right away instead he saw his first live human style kiss. Spock couldn't help his cheeks become slightly green as he watched his parents kiss.

"No one would leave you voluntarily my dear." With that, his father picked up Amanda off the floor and started for the stairs.

"Stop, I have to clean up the mess in the kitchen." Amanda said quickly trying to get out of her husband's hold.

"I will take care of it after you are resting in bed. It is late. We will be leaving for Toronto in the morning."

"I thought we were leaving for the Federation General Assembly." Amanda asked.

"The first few days of the conference are nothing but fruitless photo OPS and excuses to get drunk for those who can engage in such activities. Nothing of substance happens at those meetings. My deputy can handle those events without much difficulty. There is a greater benefit for us attending your father's funeral. If you wish you may stay in Toronto with Spock, as I continue on to the conference."

"Thank you." That was the last thing he heard his mom say as they continued up the stairs.

Spock then walked into the kitchen not completely understanding the scene in front of him or what he heard earlier. He knew his grandfather died. His mother mentioned it at dinner that evening as if she was speaking about the weather. He did not find her behavior peculiar because he was unsure of how humans were supposed to react in such a situation.

Unable to go back to his room to sleep Spock decided to clean up the mess in the kitchen. He chose not to activate the cleaning-bot because it would make too much noise. Instead, he grabbed the old fashion dust pan and broom that his mother kept for some unknown reason, as well as, an anti bacterial spray. He was just starting to figure out how to use the broom that was slightly bigger than he was when his father took it out of his hands.

"What are you doing out of bed little one?" His father asked in a voice that was calmer than usual.

"I woke up when I heard the dishes breaking. Is mom okay?" Spock asked not knowing of any other way to phrase the question.

"No, but she will be eventually. Humans handle grief very differently than Vulcans. This is something that will not go away instantaneously for your mother. It is most logical that you return to bed for the night. We will be leaving for earth in the morning." His father said this in a way that was not a suggestion, but rather a command.

"Yes, father." Spock's said as he did exactly what Sarek said. Spock did not fall asleep right away when he returned to his bed instead he couldn't help but think about what he saw. Humans were very confusing.

* * *

**The Present**

Human grief is something Spock is still having difficulty understanding even though he has spent his entire life among humans in the form of his mother or his Starfleet colleagues and now his husband. His first experience with human grief as a mere child when his grandfather died left Spock very confused. His mother kept switching from keeping a Vulcan like demeanor of calmness to bursting out in tears on the long trek to his grandfather's funeral. She was also angry for much of the journey.

The funeral itself was just as confusing. The emotions of the mourners were overwhelming because he was such a young child that he was unable to shield properly. His mother was not in a state to explain why everyone was angry and sad at the same time. Spock found this behavior quite perplexing at the age of six.

He was still just as confused 10 years later at his grandmother's funeral. Being a teenager did not make him understand the situation any better. Although this time the anger was not directed at the deceased, but at the intoxicated driver who was responsible for her death. There was also a lot of anger directed at the lobbying group that was responsible for keeping a simple device that would make all transporters unusable if the driver was intoxicated. The only good thing was Spock was able to shield himself much more efficiently at that funeral.

When he became a member of Starfleet, he was exposed to human grief on a more regular basis, because death was a part of the job no matter how hard they try to avoid it. When he was a student, one of the individuals in his dormitory died of one of the few forms of leukemia that remains unresponsive to modern treatment methods. The disease came out of remission during her last year at the academy. He remembered the memorials set up in the hallway, and being overwhelmed by the tears of his fellow classmates. He didn't understand their grief because they were never very nice to the deceased when she was still alive.

Spock was one of the very few individuals that ate lunch with Sarah on a regular basis. He was even willing to provide her with notes when her treatment schedule required her to miss classes for weeks at a time. Spock was the only one who knew that she was determined to graduate from the academy, even if her cancer would keep her from serving a non earth base assignment for an indeterminate amount of time.

During his first assignment as a science officer under the command of Captain Pike, he was first made aware of the other way Humans react to grief, the complete non reaction. When your colleagues die on an almost daily basis Spock discovered that sometimes humans become desensitized to the tragedy. Nobody cried on board the ship unless they did it in the privacy of their quarters. People just continued their duties as before. This lack of reaction unnerved Spock just as much, because everybody ignored what was happening. Even he could tell this was unhealthy due to the sheer amount of alcohol some of his colleagues consumed, as well as, the higher probability of PTS in humans who do not grieve in some way.

By the time he was an instructor, he realized that it was important for humans to grieve on a theoretical level. That is why he canceled classes the day one of his students died of acute alcohol poisoning. Surprisingly enough he was the only instructor to do so. Yet even by that point Spock still did not understand human grief.

He understood it more when his own mother died. He felt a mixture of anger, sorrow, and guilt to the point that it was overwhelming. He never felt emotions so strong before within himself. The only way he knew how to function was to repress everything. He knew that such repression in Humans was unhealthy but because he perceived himself to be Vulcan, Spock assumed this to be the only logical course. It was not until everything he felt exploded out of him in a grand display of emotional instability, involving the attempted murder of his current husband, that Spock realized the fallacy of his reasoning. Repression was just as dangerous for him as his fully human counterparts. He would have never forgiven himself if he permanently hurt his T'hy'la.

Maybe his own personal experience was why he was so worried about James and his atypical reaction to his mother's death. It was a non reaction that rivaled Spock's own reaction to Amanda's death. Even Nyota cried more tears regarding Winona's passing than James. Jim has not cried at all.

At first, he did not even acknowledge his mother's passing. Actually, he denied the fact that she was dead up until the point he spoke to Akia. To say that conversation was tense would be an oversimplification of the situation. James was quite angry with his former sister in law for keeping the fact that his mother was sick a secret. Yet during the screaming match, the only emotion expressed was anger on Jim's part. That was one of the few times in the last 24 hours Jim expressed anything beyond numbness.

The only other time James expressed any other emotions was when they engaged in sexual intercourse once they return to the house. Spock was grateful that his father and his counterpart decided to take the children out to explore the colony and to purchase various necessities for Sunk. He knew it was a very flimsy excuse to be out of the house, but Spock was grateful for private time with his husband.

James had a tendency to put on a brave front in front of everyone especially their daughter Amanda. When a crew member died in the line of duty everyone looked to the captain for strength and to make sense of the tragedy. James always felt the need to be strong for everyone else but once they were alone James would let go. This would usually involve either him or James being bent over a table or desk as the other one did what James refer to as the 'fucking'. Afterwards, they would both be covered in bruises and sore in various places depending on who was penetrating in that particular encounter. After achieving physical release, James was usually ready for an emotional release. Post orgasm, his James would tell Spock exactly how he was feeling and by the end of it his lover may even shed a tear or two. It was their normal way of dealing with such tragedies.

On the really bad days such as when they lose multiple crew members or Jim loses someone he is very close to, these sexual encounters usually result in several pieces of furniture being destroyed or damaged during the course of intercourse. Amanda would usually spend the night in her bedroom in Nyota's quarters. This became the normal procedure after Amanda asked why her daddy's were screaming so much after one particular incident.

Spock was sure if they spent some time alone James would verbalize what he was feeling. Spock knew his lover was confused and angry because he could feel it through their bond no matter how hard Jim tried to shield the emotions from him. Spock also knew James was not allowing himself to feel anything else. This was evident during his conversation with Admiral Pike, where he focused the call on what the tabloids were saying about the new baby, Nyota's hospitalization, and if the Admiralty would be okay with Sunk being on Enterprise. Not once did James talk about how he was really feeling regarding his mother's death. This bothered Spock because James was usually unbelievably honest with the Admiral. James even saw Admiral Pike as a father figure of sorts.

After that conversation, Spock was hoping that James would begin to let go the moment they were alone after the children left for the afternoon. Instead, he felt himself be pushed up against the wall of their temporary quarters as James started kissing him. James held onto his wrist so hard, as he smashed his mouth to Spock's that he actually left bruises. Spock's entire body was covered in bite marks by the end of the encounter. Fortunately, most were in places that could be covered with clothing. Spock was not sure what would be more embarrassing having his daughter ask about the bite marks or his father. Neither possible scenario seemed pleasant.

Normally during their bedroom 'activities', Spock was the more dominant partner. Yet, there were times where Spock yielded complete control to his partner. This was one of those times because he knew James needed this.

Two table lamps were broken as they made their way to the bed, and James looked desperately in the dresser doors for supplies. His lack of coordination could be attributed to the fact that James already pulled Spock's pants down and they were hanging around his ankles. James was in a similar state. If he knew Jim would jump him the moment they were alone, he would have taken his shoes off in the hallway to avoid the awkward situation.

"Seriously why did you unpack everything?" James said in irritation as he was unable to find any lubricant in the dresser doors. This is also the moment that he accidentally knocked the second lamp to the ground breaking it.

"If you would calm down for a moment, you will remember that I put all the supplies for sexual intercourse in the black toiletry bag that is currently underneath the bed. I do not enjoy the concept of living out of a suitcase even if we are going to be here for just a week. Although considering we will be leaving earlier than expected that may have been foolish on my part." Spock said, as he quickly removed his boots as he sat on the bed.

"Got it." Jim said triumphantly pulling up the black bag and throwing it on the bed. "Why are we leaving early?" James asked right before Spock felt himself being pushed down on the mattress by an overly enthusiastic James. Not one piece of clothing managed to escape this particular encounter undamaged. James was too upset at a certain woman who was no longer alive to actually care about not damaging clothing.

"We must leave for Iowa for the fune…" Spock begins as Jim literally tore his top off, but Spock is cut off by James biting his shoulder in a not gentle way.

"We're not going to Iowa." James mumbled against Spock shoulder.

"James, I think…" Spock's started again but he stopped when James wrapped his hand around his now engorge phallus.

"I don't want to talk about a dead mom who did not even bother to tell me that she was dying of cancer. All I really want to do right now is fuck my husband, until I black out for a much better reason than an allergic reaction to soy laced pretzels." James said this as he began to bite Spock shoulder again.

"Do you really feel it is a good idea to engage in such rigorous sexual activities after being hospitalized?" Spock asked with concern as his husband continued to stimulate Spock with his hand. James answered Spock's question with a hard squeeze and another kiss on the mouth. He felt it was most prudent to allow Jim to take whatever he needed.

Spock was sure that Dr. M'Benga would be very displeased by the fact that James and he engaged in various sexual activities, for three hours and twenty-two minutes with only a few small rest breaks. Spock was worried that the strenuous activities were too much for his lover but if he truly felt Jim was endangering himself he had no trouble whatsoever in ministering the Vulcan nerve pinch. It never came to that because after his third and Spock's fifth orgasm of the afternoon, James finally lost consciousness. Of course, this was after they managed to break the bed. He hoped his stepmother would allow him to replace the bed without telling Sarek what happened.

Unfortunately, it was Amanda who notified Sarek of the broken bed during a very uncomfortable dinner. Amanda discovered the broken bed when she barged into their room once the party returned from their afternoon outing. At least at this point Amanda no longer asks why daddy likes to sleep wearing a sheet. Spock was grateful Sarek said nothing about the broken bed except to let them know that a replacement would be arriving in the morning.

That evening Jim distracted himself with taking care of Sunk. At dinner, James spent his time asking Sunk various questions about his day avoiding any mention of T'Pring. There is also no talk of Winona after T'Pay asked when they would be leaving for Iowa and received nothing but an angry glare. The subject of Winona was also not discussed when James set up an instant bed in the nursery for Sunk's use. Sunk was 'excited' by the possibility of living anywhere else.

The next morning was quite busy, filled with various video conferences with the Admiralty, their lawyers, and federation child welfare services. After being prevented from spending the day at the hospital with Nyota, Amanda will be spending with his counterpart and Sunk. Supposedly shopping would be involved.

The Admiralty agreed that Sunk may live on Enterprise on an interim basis without much persuasion. Spock wondered how much Pike and Jim's former stepfather influenced their decision. However the call ended abruptly when several members of the Admiralty expressed their condolences.

Spock has never seen a non-Vulcan be so devoid of any emotion before. This lack of any emotion continued during their discussions with the lawyers. Even he was visibly angry when he was informed by Alexis that T'Pring would sign over parental rights to both he and James, in exchange for one-time payment of 50,000 credits. Jim's only reaction was, "I thought she would ask for more money. I have ten times that amount in my Kelvin trust fund alone. I'll be happy to give her that blood money, and then it would be used for something good." Jim's lack of inflection as he spoke gave Spock enough cause to contact Dr. McCoy before his father took him to Sunk's school to secure the child's transfer. According to his daughter Joanne, Dr. McCoy had already departed for an undisclosed location.

Spock found it peculiar that Sarek chose to work from home that day, so that he may assist Spock and Jim with the Sunk situation. However, Spock did not have the energy to question his father's motivations. There were some things he preferred not to actually know the answers to.

Considering everything else that has happened with his ex bond mate in the last few days, Spock is not surprised to find out that Sunk never actually attended the school that he was registered at. Spock was willing to admit he was somewhat irritated by the fact the school did not even look into Sunk's absence. Their excuse that they were overwhelmed due to the influx of students did not seem plausible or logical in Spock's mind.

"You appeared to be upset and worried." Sarek said as they walked to the vehicle after exiting the facility.

"I apologize for my display of emotions. I am used to being around people who are more accepting." Spock said almost sardonically.

"I'm not criticizing your behavior; I am merely inquiring as to what has caused you such distress." Sarek said in response.

"I am not distressed I just do not find the teachers excuse logical." Spock said not telling his father that he was really concerned about Jim.

"Yes, the situation at the school is quite unfortunate. However, I have hypothesized that your distress is really related to the situation regarding James and the death of his mother. He appears not to be handling her death as well as he could be." Spock was personally shocked his father was that observant. Then again he was aware of all the furniture James broke the day before, unfortunately.

"His reaction is perfectly normal if he were a Vulcan." Again his comment was borderline on sardonic.

"Yet, James is not Vulcan and therefore his reaction is atypical. Your mother had a similar reaction when your grandfather died. You were just a few years older than Amanda at the time. When your aunt broke the news to her, she acted as if nothing happened. At first she even denied that he was dead." Spock almost thought he heard his father being wistful, but that was not possible.

"James behaved similarly yesterday." Spock told his father as they began their trip to his father's house.

"I'm not surprised. Your James is very similar to my Amanda. As that day progressed, she continued to act as if nothing had happened. It was almost as if she was devoid of all emotions for the rest of the day. I became quite worried when she told you of your grandfather's passing without any inflection in her voice whatsoever. This was so highly unusual for your mother that I was worried. It was so bad that she shielded her mind from me completely. I found this troubling." Spock was at least happy that James was not completely shielding him. Spock could take some comfort in that fact.

"What did you do?" Spock inquired of his father.

"I waited for her reaction and stayed by her side as she finally fell apart. Sometimes that is all one can do. Your mother finally broke down when she was rearranging the kitchen later that night because she could not sleep. She finally broke down in tears, when she came across the dishes your grandfather gave us on the day we bonded. I held her as she cried." His father's words reminded Spock of the surreal scene from so long ago. Sometimes Spock wondered if he imagines his father being so loving with his mother Amanda. Knowing what he knows now he knows that his father really did love Amanda it did not seem that unusual anymore.

"I remember. I woke up to the sounds of dishes breaking and mother crying. She was very broken, as I watched you two in the kitchen. That was the first time I saw a human kiss. You were so loving with mother that I wondered if I imagined the whole thing after you told me that you only married her because it was logical." Spock told his father honestly.

"I apologize for misleading you. Most Vulcan marriages are based on logic not love. What I had with your mother was unusual." Sarek said not looking at his son.

"You do not have that type of relationship with T'Pay?" Spock asked quickly subconsciously already knowing the answer.

"It would be impossible for me to love anyone else like I loved your mother, just as it would be impossible for you to love anyone else like you love James." If he were completely human, Spock would be shocked by the fact his father acknowledged the importance of his relationship with James.

"My relationship with T'Pay is logical because it is necessary, not because I love her. We are both young enough to take part in the repopulation efforts. I am just fortunate enough to be married to someone I still consider a friend and respect greatly. Because she was such great friends with Amanda she was the one who suggested that T'Mandy be named in her honor." The vehicle stayed silent for a moment as Spock took everything in.

"How do I help James grieve?" Spock asked his father returning to the dilemma at hand.

"The only thing you can do is be there for him when he finally does let go. I also suggest getting him to Iowa for the funeral. He may not want to go now but if he does not say goodbye he will regret it. My assistant has already made travel arrangements." Sarek said surprising Spock once more.

"I am uncertain if I can convince James to go." Spock said honestly.

"Then you must make him."

**To be continued.**


	14. Mother and Child: Part III

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter

Mother and Child: part three

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** December 25, 2239**

Jim loved Christmas for many reasons other than the toys he got from everyone. His favorite part was playing with his brand new things with his mommy. No matter what, his mommy was always home for Christmas. This year she arrived yesterday with lots of presents. He really didn't have time to be with her yesterday because Frank and Sam monopolized all her time. That was okay because he had fun with Nana.

Christmas day was his time after the presents and Christmas brunch. Today they were playing Starfleet soldier with some of his new action figures, including one that looked suspiciously like his father according to the pictures that he has seen. He loved being with his mom like that when it was just the two of them. For a moment, he could forget about the fact that she was gone all the time or the way Frank hit him whenever Jimmy did not listen. Because Jim despised the step Frank, he never listened to him. That led to getting hit a lot.

He didn't tell his mom about Frank hitting him or Sam being mean. He didn't want to ruin his time with his mom. Instead, they played with the action figures as he asked questions about her last mission.

"Did you meet any aliens?" Little Jimmy asked enthusiastically as he grabbed another toy soldier from the pile on the floor.

"I encountered many individuals from different planets. I even got to partake in a first contact with a new society. The inhabitants of Alpha-Beta-Santana resemble your cat Whispers. I have pictures that I will show you later." His mom said as she put another soldier inside the shuttle.

"What about Vulcans? Did you meet any Vulcans? They have the cutest ears. One of Marissa's daddies used to live on Vulcan when he studied at the VSA. They are actually moving back there soon. Her daddy says they kiss with their hands. That is so cool. I want to marry a Vulcan when I grow up." Jimmy said enthusiastically as the two soldiers in his hands started fighting each other.

"I did meet several Vulcans because we transported the Vulcan delegation to a conference. One of the Ambassador's brought his wife and son along. He used to be the ambassador to earth before you were born but now he works directly with the Vulcan Council. The young boy was just a little bit younger than Sam, but he acted a lot like you. He was very inquisitive and always asking questions. Ambassador Sarek's wife is human so there may be hope that you will marry a Vulcan girl some day." She said with a laugh.

"Do I have to marry a girl? Why can't I marry another boy? The only girl I like is Marisa and she is leaving soon." Jim asked his mom as he continued playing.

"No, you don't have to marry a girl. If you decide to marry a Vulcan boy when you grow up I will be okay with that. Let's just hope Grandma Kirk is dead by then." He heard his mother mumbled that part under her breath. Jimmy is not allowed to repeat the things Grandma Kirk says about individuals from other planets.

"Okay. Marisa's daddies are in Starfleet and she gets to go with them. Why can't I go with you?" Jim asked her with innocent eyes.

"Marisa's dads have planet based assignments even if they don't stay on earth all the time. I work on a starship. Kids are not allowed to live on starships." His mom said quickly hoping that would explain everything.

"But I was born on a starship." Jimmy said, as he momentarily stopped playing with the soldiers.

"You weren't supposed to be. I didn't find out I was pregnant with you until a month into the mission. You weren't supposed to be born until March." They never talked about the fact that Jimmy was born two months early because their starship was attacked by an enemy ship or that his dad died that day.

"I don't like to follow the rules. I don't understand why they don't allow kids on starship. People would be happier if they could be with their children. Happy people work better." He told his mom as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"When you grow up you can challenge the policy, if you decide to join Starfleet. Right now this is the way it is." She said grabbing another soldier from the pile and examined it for a moment.

"When are you leaving?" Jim doesn't know why he asked. Except for the year his mom married the step Frank, his mom always leaves the day before his birthday.

"The second." His mom replied just like he knew she would.

"Okay. Can we play Wii 2240 now?" Jimmy asked referring to the new gaming system he received this morning."

"Sure." His mom said getting up from the floor.

**The that that

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The Present

Jim was hoping to have a very quiet afternoon curling up with his husband in the guest room after everything that happened that morning and completely block the last 24 hours from his mind. Okay not everything in the last 24 hours. He did enjoy certain activities yesterday and wouldn't mind a repeat performance but all the children would be back soon so that meant no sex.

After spending hours dealing with the Vulcan bureaucrats and Starfleet idiots who asked too many questions about how he's dealing with his mother's death, all he wanted to do was be with his husband. Spock time always made him feel better. Unfortunately, Spock was currently withdrawing Sunk from school and picking up his records with Sarek. In addition, elder Selek just dropped the other children off after their second attempt at the zoo. Jim was still a little apprehensive about leaving the older version of his husband alone with his little girl, but surprisingly enough little Amanda actually listens to her 'uncle Selek'.

He was also kind enough to pick up T'Mandy because Jim was too busy dealing with the lawyers and checking up on Ny. T'Mandy was furious in a very Vulcan way because she had to go to school today to pick up her assignments for when she would be off planet. Apparently, the little girl likes playing with baby animals even though little Vulcans are not supposed to like anything.

He also had to deal with the other version of his husband offering his condolences once the children scattered. Not fun because this Spock knew him to well. Lying was not an option.

"I'm fine and please don't lecture me about the ambiguousness of the word. My mom is dead. We didn't have a very good relationship for lots of different reasons including her leaving me with an abusive cheating drug addict during my formative years, as well as, her never telling me what's going on. She could not even tell me the real reason why she missed my wedding. Being sick with a disease that completely compromised her immune system would have been an acceptable reason. I don't know why everybody is expecting me to start crying. I'm not that type of person." Jim said almost angrily.

"No you are not. I do not find your response out of character for you. When will you be leaving the planet?" Selek asked him looking somewhat disappointed.

"The same time we were intending to. I thought for a while we would have to spend some more time straightening out the custody situation and to accommodate Nyota being hospitalized but that does not seem to be the case anymore. They want to keep her another night but as long as nothing happens, Nyota should be able to leave in a few days. You know who was willing to sign over complete custody and relinquish her parental rights for monetary compensation, so we can leave the planet with Sunk as early as tomorrow. Considering what the DNA test said that was for the best." Jim said cryptically not wanting to tell this Spock what he found out until he talked to his Spock in person.

"You're not leaving earlier to attend Winona's funeral?" Selek questioned him with one raised eyebrow.

"Why should I attend her funeral when she didn't even bother to tell me that she was sick?" Jim spat out. He was still very angry about that fact.

"I understand your anger but I fear that you will regret it. Your counterpart was unable to attend Winona's funeral and it was one of his many regrets." For some reason this comment irritated Jim.

"I'm not my counterpart. He probably had a perfect relationship with his mother. He didn't have to deal with a mom who blamed him for her first husband's death. You wouldn't understand. You and Amanda were really close." Again, he could not control his bitterness.

"Not everything is how you assumed it to be. My Jim's relationship with Winona was quite contentious mostly due to the fact she felt he was not being completely honest with himself because he was trying to be something he was not. Fortunately, you do not have that problem in this dimension." Spock said mysteriously before continuing.

"You are right like my counterpart I had a very good relationship with my mother. However, unlike my counterpart, I was never able to truly repair my relationship with my father before his death. It was one of my greatest regrets." Jim instantly picked up on the sorrow in Spock's words.

"This is like a second chance for you?" Jim asked.

"Perhaps. At my age, I have acquired great wisdom, yet rarely do I have a chance to use it." The conversation ended abruptly when Amanda came into the living room screaming about T'Mandy.

This was how instead of fun husband playtime with his Spock he ended up playing Barbies with his daughter, his baby sister-in-law who was a little too much in love with him, and his new stepson. Although, maybe foster child would be more appropriate considering Sunk was not Spock's biological son in or related in any way as it turns out according to the DNA test. Jim wasn't expecting the other surprise on the test. Fortunately, Vulcans arcane custody laws made it clear Spock was the father of record anyway making Jim a stepfather even without the bitch signing over parental rights.

Jim did not want to think of himself as anyone's stepfather regardless. The term left a bitter taste in Jim's mouth. The only decent stepfather Jim ever had was Damien and his mother left him when she fell in love with a guy who left her when she was dying from a cancer caused by a virus he could have given her for all they knew. Jim always believed stepfather number four was a complete dick but didn't know how bad it was until his conversation with Akia yesterday. That made him angrier than anything else.

Not that Jim knew anything involving his mother recently because she didn't tell him. She never told him anything. She never consulted him.

Even though Amanda was not four years old yet, he still consulted her on certain things. Even though they were confused as hell about how it happened, they still told her about the new babies before they really knew how the children were conceived. Amanda wanted Sunk to live with them as soon as she found out he was legally her big brother.

Last night Jim asked Sunk if he was okay with leaving New Vulcan behind and living on a starship. The little boy's face lit up like a Christmas tree. If Sunk had said no, he and his bond mate would be looking into alternatives to either stay on the colony for a little while or some other plan. Jim would never be his mom.

Jim had several good examples of what parent should not be and very few good parenting role models. His former sister-in-law was one of the good examples even though he was unbelievably pissed at her for lying to him and waiting until his mother was dead to let him know what the hell was going on. It was so not his fault he didn't return phone calls. Jim really didn't want to think about that or anything else involving dead mothers.

It was best that he focused on being a good father to the two children he had now and the two on the way. Today that meant playing Barbie dolls to keep his manipulative spoiled little baby girl from bursting into tears again. 5 minutes after they arrived back to the house Amanda ran up to him in tears during his very grown up conversation with other Spock because her auntie T'Mandy would not play with her even though her new big brother would. Jim thinks that Sunk only agreed to play because Amanda already had him wrapped around her little finger. Jim thought of how many times growing up he forced his mom to play with him.

As soon as he was in the room, T'Mandy had no problem playing. His baby sister-in-law definitely had a crush on him. Jim was just glad neither Spock was there to laugh at him in a very Vulcan way. Jim couldn't decide if his sister in law's crush was cute or creepy, especially because she looked a lot like her older brother at that age.

Today's game was Starfleet Diplomat. It was a lot like Starfleet Soldier but less shooting was involved. Actually, it was a much more accurate representation of what Starfleet is actually like. This is what happens when you actually spend your childhood on a starship. You realize that half the time you deal with the bad guys over a negotiation table where everybody is looking out for their own self interest and no one gives a fuck about anyone else then in actual combat. During today's game, he was the captain and the first officer mostly so he could play with his own action figure. OK actually, it was so he could play with Spock's action figure. Unfortunately, 300 years after the doll was initially created they are still not anatomically correct. Though, Spock's ears were just as adorable in plastic.

The action figures were really of him and Spock. The replicas were originally commissioned after they saved earth almost nine years ago. Technically, they were made by Mattel and friends of Barbie, but he refused to call them dolls. That was too, girlie for his personal taste. The only thing he really liked about Barbie was the fact that she could have any job in the known galaxy and her cool car. The fact that he tinkered under the hood of said car to make it go faster was just another part of parental bonding. His mom did all sorts of crazy things to his toys growing up. The fact that those modifications resulted in the car crashing into a piece of expensive equipment on Enterprise and subsequently destroying it, which happened the last time he played Barbies was something that they would never tell Spock about. It was another part of parental bonding**. **

His mom completely reconfigured his Starfleet limited edition remote control shuttlecraft so it could fly five times faster than originally did. So he accidentally destroyed some of Frank's collectibles but he deserved it. It really looked like Winona took the secret to her grave.

"I still do not understand this game." T'Mandy said with two eyebrows raised and her nose scrunched up. This forced Jim to focus on the conversation currently going on and not on memories of a woman who wasn't there anymore.

"We're supposed to be negotiating access to the dealifIan on your planet." Amanda said mispronouncing the fuel source.

"I have nothing of the sort." T'Mandy said placing her doll on the ground.

"It's pretend." Amanda answered back as if it was the most logical thing in the universe.

"I'm Vulcan, pretending is illogical. This is a waste of time. I rather do homework." Jim almost laughed at how much she was acting like her brother at that moment. Spock would rather do paperwork than take part in certain ship activities like karaoke night unless it was a direct order or Jim withholds sex.

"I'm Vulcan and I like to play." Amanda answered her aunt as defiantly as ever. She was definitely his daughter. Sunk looked very confused during the exchange.

Jim was half-tempted to mention how good Spock's imagination was during 'grownup play time' but decided this wasn't the right time. Actually, there will never be a right time for that conversation.

Also, his new charge was at the age where he would be interested in that sort of thing. Jim really did not want to give the sex talk to a preteen Vulcan until he absolutely had to. Jim Kirk was not afraid of much, but the thought of having the pon farr conversation or the regular sex talk with any of his kids absolutely terrified him. Briefly, Jim thought about asking his mother how she dealt with it before he remembered that was not option anymore.

"You are only 25%Vulcan." His sister in law said it in a way that made it sound like an insult. Her statement grabbed his attention once more from his morose thoughts. This is what happens when you don't check out your nanny properly, Jim thought to himself. Even Jim doubted that the five year old picked up that attitude from her father. After a few days on Vulcan, Jim has concluded that his father in law mostly hated him because he took Spock away to live on a starship light years away.

"Your point is?" Amanda said as defiantly as ever with hands on her hips like Nyota.

Although not genetically Nyota's baby girl, there were moments where you could tell Amanda was definitely her mother's daughter. This was one of them. Everyone always said Jim looked exactly like his father, but acted like his mom because they were both 'stubborn as mules'. That seems to be the case again.

"That sentence makes no sense." T'Mandy said in response making the same face Spock does when he is annoyed or frustrated.

"There's a reason for this game. This is how Amanda practices her language skills." Jim said trying to prevent another pillow fight. Jim was suddenly struck with a memory of his mom trying to prevent a similar incident between him and Sam because his brother was being a condescending ass. In his mind, Jim could actually hear her diplomatically trying to keep him and Sam from trying to kill each other before she gave up and sent both of them to their rooms to cool off.

"I am fluent in four languages and seven different dialects. I have no need to practice with silly games." His little sister-in-law said smugly. That made Jim want to laugh which is something he hasn't done a lot of in the last 24 hours.

"Amanda, tell your aunt how many languages you speak." Amanda quickly held up 9 fingers. "How many different dialects do you speak?" Amanda quickly put up 10 fingers and then put up the same fingers again. Jim was not even sure how many languages Amanda could speak anymore. Jim is sure his baby girl learned to speak Romulan inutero. He and Spock were still debating whether Amanda's second word was the Romulan word for father or a Klingon Slang word for a part of male anatomy that no toddler should know.

"I don't believe you. You can't speak that many languages." T'Mandy said in irritation. There is that wonderful Vulcan superiority complex coming out.

"Yes, I can." Amanda responded in perfect _Orion_. That made her aunt shut up quickly. Jim tried to suppress a laugh. This was exactly what he needed to get his mind off his mom and her death, not that he was thinking about her.

"How many languages do you speak Sunk?" Jim asked trying to engage the young boy. He seems so quiet.

"I can only speak standard." Sunk had answered without making direct eye contact. He was still scared of everyone. Jim didn't think he was like that during the worst of Frank's abuse, but Jim was never taken out of his home and put into Foster Care unless you count Tarsus. Jim found his answer strange because most children on the colony could at least speak both standard and modern Vulcan. His husband, who was a little over achiever, could already speak 10 different languages by the time he was Sunk's age.

"That is not possible. All Vulcan children are required to take classes in modern Vulcan in school." T'Mandy said, pointing something out that Jim was unaware of.

"I did not go to school." He would ask why, but Jim already knew. If Sunk actually showed up for school somebody would have noticed the bruises under those Vulcan robes quickly enough. He wasn't surprised by what T'Pring did any more. The Vulcan was quickly winning the worst mother of all time award. Winona may have had her faults but T'Pring belonged in her own special category of neglectful parent and horrible Vulcan. Jim should have been thankful for what he had, not that he will ever be able to tell his mother that now.

"Why can't you speak Vulcan?" Jim asked in a soothing voice.

"T'Pring said that those infected with human blood do not deserve to speak the Vulcan language." He said not looking at him again.

That was other surprise from today. Jim wondered why no one other than Sarek questioned Sunk's paternity including the few doctors that had to see him over the years. A child with partial human DNA would stand out and have unique medical needs. Now Jim knew why no one but Spock's father would question the legitimacy of her claim. Sunk was not the son of one of Spock's distant cousins but rather the child of some unknown human that T'Pring had sex with. For all they know, the cousin could have been functioning as cover to help secure a divorce. He certainly wasn't going to ask T'Pring for details.

Given her disdain for all things human and the way she treats her child, Jim wonders if it was consensual. Though T'Pring was easily three times stronger than most human men that would mean nothing if she was given the Vulcan equivalent of GHB. Then again, maybe the human hatred was a byproduct of the guy in question leaving her high and dry after knocking her up. At the time she would've conceived, T'Pring was a protocol officer with the Vulcan version of the State Department and would have been in very close contact with various humans.

Contrary to popular assumptions, humans and Vulcan can procreate the old-fashioned way but it was rare. Those pregnancies are also more susceptible to complications. Spock was only genetically engineered because of other infertility issues.

At least Jim now possibly understood why she behaved the way she did, but it still didn't make it right in Jim's eyes.

"What your mom said to you was wrong. No one has the right to make you feel inferior. There's nothing wrong with being half human. There's nothing wrong with you." The way Sunk's face lit up it was almost as if no one ever told him that before. Jim suddenly remembers being 17 and grandma Kirk freaking out because Jim was taking a male non-human to the prom. His mother's words echoed in his mind once more.

"_You may be Jim's grandmother but that does not give you a right to say those things to my child. I don't give a fuck what you think. My son can be with whoever the hell he wants to be with. He's not straight, get the fuck over it. If you can't at least keep your opinions to yourself, leave now. There's nothing wrong with Jim." _Jim remembered exactly when she said those words even though he was never meant to hear them. His mom's voice carried through the old farmhouse. He remembered she made a special point of being on planet for his high school graduation and that's why she was there.

"Did you know that elder Selek is half human?" Jim said quickly trying to forget his mom's words of support from so long ago.

"He's on the Vulcan council." Sunk said, in near shock as if he never considered the possibility before.

"Being part human doesn't mean you're less than anyone. It means that you are unique. That's a good thing." Jim said quickly.

"That is not what T'Pring said." Sunk, nearly mumbled.

"T'Pring is full of sh- T'Pring was lying to you." Jim corrected himself when he remembered his underage audience. "There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect exactly the way you are." Jim said repeating the words his mother told him so many times after another fight with his homophobic grandmother or whenever the kids would tease him for being the smart kid. It was not his fault that a few tears began to fall right then.

"Daddy, are you okay?" His daughter asked instantly noticing his watery eyes.

"I am fine baby. It's just allergies." Jim said as an excuse. "The room is dusty."

"It is not. I take great pride in keeping my room clean. Your eyes are becoming watery for a completely different reason." T'Mandy said. That was Vulcan for bullshit.

"I'm fine." He answered quickly.

"Fine has various degrees of meaning." T'Mandy said almost in a perfect imitation of her brother. Jim almost wanted to laugh.

"I am fine. My mother died yesterday. She was sick for a long time but never told me. I've been mad at her for as long as I can remember for something that was not her fault. I haven't talked to her for years. Now, I won't have a second chance." Jim said quickly as a few more tears began to fall from his eyes.

"It's OK daddy." Amanda said as she grabbed him in a hug. "Aunt Ny says crying is okay. I am sad Graham is dead too."

"You never got to meet her. I'm sorry about that. She wasn't a bad mom. She never hit us. She almost killed Frank when she found out that he was hurting us and that was not hyperbole. We were never without food and always had a nice place to stay. I went to a really expensive private school. Maybe that's why she was in space so much. I was so angry at her because she wasn't there. Now she is gone." Jim finally said out loud making it real. He stayed in the room crying until Spock arrived 15 minutes later. The comforting hug of his daughter was quickly replaced with the soothing touch of his husband.

"It is okay T'hy'la." Spock said as he gently kissed Jim on the forehead.

"Nothing's okay. She's gone." Jim said still crying even if he was trying not to.

"I know." Spock said as he wiped away Jim's tears with his fingers.

"What do I do now?" He asked staring into Spock's eyes.

"We mourn and we say goodbye." Spock said running his fingers through Jim's hair.

"How do we do that?"

"You can share memories about your childhood with me when we're packing. We will be leaving tomorrow evening for Earth." Jim was not happy with that. He did not want to see his mother's lifeless body.

"I don't want to go to the funeral." Jim said almost pulling away."

"Yes, but you need to go. In exchange for going to Iowa under duress, I'm willing to do whatever you want involving chocolate body paint and handcuffs. If we can find a babysitter, I may be willing to use the scarves." It was scary to see that his husband was actually smirking as he said this. Smirking for Spock, anyway.

"You're using bribery? Jim asked incredulously. He could not believe his husband.

"Yes. I considered withholding sex but I did not feel like punishing myself." Spock said almost smugly for him.

"Of course not, fine you win." For his acquiescence, Jim was rewarded with a kiss from his husband that resulted in more furniture being broken.

To be continued


	15. What We Take With Us

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Thank you to Francesca Monterone for reviewing this chapter.

I'm not sure if grandfather Tiberius died before or after Jim was born, but for the purposes of this story he died shortly afterwards for the sake of plot.

* * *

**Chapter 15: What We Take With Us**

**About 21 years earlier**

"I don't understand why I can't stay here." Jim said angrily as he threw another T-shirt into his duffel bag. Jim had no idea what the climate was like on Tarsus IV and therefore had no idea what to bring. His Nana said it was beautiful there but Jim didn't trust her or her new husband. He loved her but she was really good at lying for the greater good as she put it.

This wouldn't be so bad if his Nana didn't live so far away now. It was going to take Jim more than a month to get there. Jim wouldn't get to see his new friends again until his exile was over, which would probably be around the time he'd reach the age of emancipation and left of his own free will.

For the last year, Jim lived in an on campus apartment with his brother as he attended the undergrad biology program at Ohio University. The school's biggest claim to fame was it was the first school on earth to accept students from other planets. Jim personally wished he lived somewhere more exciting, YO but it was the only school that had a good xenbiology program and would take Jim as well. It helped both were receiving large scholarships.

Jim spent the mornings taking high school classes and the other half in college. His current focus was computer engineering and business leadership. If things had kept going the way they had been he would've had his first bachelor's degree by the time he was 16, but his idiot brother just had to ruin everything. Did Sam really hate him that much? Up until a few weeks ago, the worst part of this had been living with Grandma Kirk during breaks.

"I don't want to have this discussion now, just finish packing." Winona said angrily bringing Jim back down to earth. She was probably pissed off that she would be spending shore leave dealing with the children she rather forget about instead of quality time with stepfather number two. He was currently camping with his best friend in the New River Valley because he wanted to be as far away from this mess as possible.

"I like it here. Why am I being punished because Sam is a dick? I wasn't the one who knocked up his girlfriend. Yet, I am the one who has to move against his will. Some of us know to use condoms instead of lying about being on the contraceptive shot because we prefer raw sex. By the way, the shot hurts like hell. You just had to find a doctor that was a sadist, didn't you?" Jim asked as he rubbed the back of his neck for the sake of exercising his point. Being the youngest child sucked sometimes, because he always had to pay for the sins of the older child. This time it meant being shipped off to the 23th-century equivalent of Siberia

In the last 48 hours, it had become public knowledge that his just barely 18-year-old brother had gotten his college student girlfriend pregnant because he was a lying bastard. Jim Kirk's life had become a living hell and he wasn't the one who had to deal with a phaser point wedding. Jim should at least have been happy that his brother had waited until his mom was planet side to break the news that in four months, Winona was going to be a grandmother. To say she was not happy was an understatement. Of course, Jim was the only one who really suffered her anger and he did not even get an orgasm out of the whole situation. Sometimes he absolutely hated his life.

"Are you having sex?" Jim had to repress the urge to roll his eyes. Was that all she cared about?

"I'm not Sam, even if you wished I were sometimes. I haven't done anything that can get anyone pregnant nor do I plan to. I told you that before you forced me to go on the shot. I don't even have a girlfriend. Grandma Kirk can vouch for that." Jim said with anger as he tried to figure out which hard copy books to bring with him. He could only bring one bag, so he had to be choosy.

"That's because you have a boyfriend and I'm sure you made sure your grandmother doesn't know about that." Winona said almost sardonically.

"I wouldn't call Justin a boyfriend. We just make out sometimes. We have not even moved on to hand jobs yet." Jim added that last part just for shock value. He was going to be as big a brat as possible about this.

"That's good to know. Your grandmother wouldn't know either way because you don't live with her most of the time. If things were different maybe you could live with her but that's not an option." His mom said with a sigh. This was Winona code for 'I can't leave you with your grandmother because she will freak out the moment she finds out about your **preferences**'.

"There's always boarding school. Why should I be punished because she has issues? Hey it's not my fault she became a homophobic alien hater after she found out she was Grandpa Tiberius's cover." Jim said as he threw a few more pairs of shoes into the bag. He had the sudden urge to throw one at his asshole brother who was responsible for him being shipped off to fucking Siberia but without the snow. How could the bastard do this to someone as great as Akia?

"Where did you hear about that?" His Mom said, sighing again. This told Jim that what he said was true. The most remarkable thing about his family was that they were very good at keeping their skeletons in their closets. Jim was learning that his family had a lot of skeletons. The fact that his grandfather had been gay and discreetly slept his way around the Alpha quadrant with his clueless planet side wife waiting at home was the biggest one of all. Jim was positive that if that particular piece of information had come out before he was born, Jim would have a different name.

"One of Grandpa's lovers was one of Akia's professors last semester. Actually, professor would be inaccurate. He's on the board. The guy is the reason why the school now has the best psychology department in this quadrant. He is the one who made sure Sam got that really nice scholarship and they would let him bring me a long for the ride so you wouldn't have to worry about who was going to take care of your other child while you were in space. He said this was his way of making amends for what he did. Apparently, I look as much like grandpa as dad did. He instantly knew who I was." Jim said as he kept packing up his entire life in one duffel bag.

Jim had learned more about his grandfather and father from Professor Alexander than he ever had from his mother and grandmother. Winona was very good at changing the subject whenever George Kirk was mentioned. As far as Grandma Kirk was concerned, she had no husband. Jim had been one when Grandpa Tiberius died of a long-term illness and fortunately did not remember anything that had happened at the funeral.

According to Sam, who was five at the time, it was a live action version of Death at the Funeral without the black mail. Grandma had even fainted. Jim had to take Sam's word for it because no one else would talk about it until he had met Professor Alexander. Professor Alexander had confirmed what happened although he had not been one responsible for Grandpa Tiberius being dragged posthumously out of the closet. Another lover hadn't been able to keep his mouth shut for the sake of the family at the funeral.

"Oh," Was all his mother said.

"I just don't understand why I keep getting punished for what other people do. I can't tell grandma I'm pan, because her husband cheated on her with several different guys including the one that he actually loved unlike her, whom he only married in the first place so he wouldn't have to deal with the Starfleet glass ceiling for non-heterosexuals. I barely have a Mom around, because Dad died a hero and you can't deal with us now. Now I have to leave all the friends that I managed to make here behind, because Sam fucked up. Why am I being punished for the stupidity of others?" Jim asked her with one tear falling down his cheek.

"You're not being punished." His mother said putting a hand on his shoulder, but Jim just pushed her away.

"Then what do you call forcing me to move to another planet?" Jim asked her bitterly.

"I just don't think your brother can look after you, deal with a new kid, and finish school at the same time." Winona said not even looking at him.

"What you're saying is you can't trust him to look after me because he was being so irresponsible. He wasn't looking after me, I was. I have been taking care of myself since I was seven years old and Frank would forget to cook sometimes. Sam was always with his friends with happy families that helped take care of him but I didn't have that option because I had no friends that knew how bad things were. Why do you think I knew how to drive at 11? We lived in the middle of nowhere and I had to get food." Jim said this as he threw the last of the things he was taking with him in the bag that was almost full. He was currently suppressing the urge to throw something.

"You never told me things were that bad. You shouldn't have to take care of yourself. You're a kid." This statement made Jim angry. He was half tempted to say_ you should take care of me _but he bit his tongue.

"And neither should Sam." Jim yelled out instead. "I am also a teenager. Why can't I come with you?" Jim had no idea how many times he has asked that question, but the answer was always the same.

"The rules haven't changed since that Christmas years ago." Winona said as an excuse. Maybe that had worked when Jim had been little, but he was too smart to fall for it now. He had all Starfleet regulations memorized and knew all the loopholes.

"That's bullshit." Jim screamed out angrily.

"Don't say stuff like that." Jim had to roll his eyes at her having the audacity to criticize him for cursing.

"If I had a mom around, who actually cared, maybe I wouldn't curse all the time. Instead, I was raised by an abusive drug addict who beat the hell out of me, a grandmother that made me feel dirty, and a older brother who never gave a fuck about anybody but himself. Your husband is first officer. I read the rules. Because of my age, he could ask for an exception. Starfleet even allows Individuals into the Academy at my age if their test scores are high enough." Jim turned around just long enough to glare at her.

"I can't do that." Winona said sternly.

"Of course you can't. No instead you're sending me to Tarsus." Jim said turning around. He couldn't look at her anymore.

"It's for the best." Her words made him sick. How could she make herself believe that completely uprooting him from his life without any say whatsoever was for the best? Maybe it was the best for her, not Jim.

"No it's not." Jim said pulling the drawstrings on his now full duffel bag. Venom dropped from every word. "I'm going to go say goodbye to my boyfriend. Maybe I'll talk him into giving me a goodbye blow job." Jim said angrily as he slammed the old fashioned door. He was too concerned with his anger to hear her burst into tears.

* * *

**The Present**

Because of the life he had, Jim Kirk was very good at packing. In the old days before Starfleet, packing mostly consisted of throwing everything necessary in a bag as quickly as possible. He really had no idea how many times as a child he had moved around between stepparents and other relatives. There was even that time he had lived with Sam on campus before he was shipped off to the planet that still induced nightmares.

His pre-Starfleet adult life hadn't been much better. He had shifted between dorm rooms and friends couches after he had technically graduated high school. Although, could you really consider it high school when you mostly took college classes? He had so many college credits by the end of high school he had his first undergrad degree completed by the time he was 18. His dorm room at the Academy had been the first time he actually lived in the same place for more than a year or two at a time.

It made sense that as an adult he lived in a house that actually moved with him. He thought that would be the end of his somewhat nomadic lifestyle, but no, not really. There was still much packing to be had. First of all nobody ever mentioned in command school, how many diplomatic missions involved staying overnight planet side. Let's be honest even though he loved the Enterprise like another one of his Children, Jim preferred to spend shore leave planet side in a nice hotel with non replicated room service. Then there was that very long break between the first and second five-year mission. As hard as he tried he could never think of their quarters in San Francisco as home even if it was technically the first place he and Spock lived together as a married couple and with their daughter. At least now, he had an assistant most of the time to help with the packing.

So by age 34, he was really good at packing for himself even if packing up this time filled him with just as much dread as when he had packed up for Tarsus over 20 years ago. He was so fast that he usually had time for a quickie with Spock in the shower afterwards. This time the sex was used as a reward to get him to pack in the first place. Of course, the post packing sex was how Spock ended up with half of his clothing still on the ship for this supposed vacation, but hey, whatever. Jim secretly believed Spock preferred human clothes anyway. Due to that mishap, his loving husband was punishing him with packing for the children. Spock said it was not a punishment, but Jim just didn't believe him. He didn't say anything because he was rewarded with a hand job.

Things weren't going so well with the four children that he was being forced to bring with him on this beyond insane family gathering that he really didn't want to go to. If he thought about the fact that he was packing up to go to his mother's funeral he would start crying again. He was a guy and guys don't cry except in the privacy of their bedroom with their spouse consoling them. Spock had been doing a lot of consoling of the NC-17 variety.

The only thing that made Jim forget about the fact that he was now an orphan was a Spock blowjob. Although, really it was hard for Jim to think about anything with Spock's mouth wrapped around him.

The baby was relatively easy to pack for once Jim got rid of all of the Vulcan clothing in the suitcase. No self-respecting toddler would be caught dead in half the things Sarek had packed for his baby boy. Jim was now pretty sure he knows why Spock was happy that almost all of his baby pictures were destroyed.

"Why have you removed most of the things from Sonnick's belongings?" His father in law asked as he gave him a very peculiar look. Jim was used to receiving those types of looks by now from Sarek.

"If we were going to spend most of our time in San Francisco as originally planned, no one would find anything unusual about a toddler walking the streets in Vulcan attire. In Iowa he would get his ass kicked on the playground." Jim said as he reached in the back of the closet to find more human like things that he sent his baby brother in law. He was half-surprised that the T-shirt that said 'free nerve pinch if you hug me' hadn't been thrown away. Spock thought it was stupid but Jim found it adorable. He had already ordered two more in newborn size for the new babies.

"I sincerely doubt that happening. Even at just 18.3 months of age, my youngest son is six times stronger than any human child his age. Also, all Vulcan children know how to defend themselves against threats of all sorts. In addition, you and Spock will be with him at all times otherwise I would not trust the care of my two children with you and my oldest living child." His father in law said sternly. Jim smiled because Sarek just admitted that he trusted him. That was a good thing.

"Even if we do watch both children all the time, bad things can still happen. You do remember your seven year old child disappearing into the desert just so that he could prove that he was Vulcan?" Jim asked with one raised eyebrow. After hearing that story from Spock's childhood, he purposely had Amanda chipped with a tracking device so that they could find her anywhere.

"Your argument is valid. It is logical to try to blend in. I have worn local dress on various diplomatic missions to help facilitate negotiations." For some reason Jim pictured Sarek looking unbelievably uncomfortable in a tuxedo and started to laugh. The baby Vulcan thought that it was funny too because he started to smile.

"What do you find so humorous?" Sarek asked in puzzlement. Jim was slightly shocked that he did not chastise the baby for smiling considering some of the stories that he had heard.

"Nothing," Jim said quickly as he stifled his amusement and continued folding toddler T-shirts in to the suitcase. "I promise I'll treat both like my own children." Jim was expecting a snappy comeback from his father in law but he didn't get it.

"That is reassuring." That was all his father in law said without his normal tone of condescension. This scared Jim slightly.

"I met your mother several times over the course of my career. She was an exceptional woman. I grieve with thee." Jim dropped the T-shirt he was holding. He was pretty sure Sarek being sympathetic was a sign of an apocalypse.

"Thank you." Jim said not really knowing what to say in response to his father in law being nice. Instead, he finished packing for the baby.

"I'm sorry that we are leaving early. I know you wanted to spend more time with Spock." Jim added after the silence became too uncomfortable to deal with any longer.

"The situation could not be helped. Death is not something that is planned." Jim wanted to laugh at that. If he had known his mother was so unwell they would have begun this vacation in Iowa. Of course, he hadn't known, which led to lots of self directed anger.

"I'm still sorry. Amanda was actually starting to have fun." Jim said playing with the toddler sandals that he found deep inside the closet. They were going to have to get winter clothes because spring hasn't quite arrived in Iowa yet.

"I was having fun with her as well, despite the circumstances. However, I have decided to leave the negotiations I am attending 2.1 days earlier so that I could spend time with you, Amanda, and Spock on earth. Amanda invited me to attend a place called Cedar Point. What is this point? Is it a Federation park of sorts?" That question was worthy of laughing, but Jim stayed quiet.

"It's the oldest amusement park on earth with roller coasters that are better than anything else in the quadrant. It was one of the few parks that survived World War III with minimal damage. It used to be an outdoor park, but it was encapsulated about 70 years ago and now it's open year round. The entire island is a wonderful 71° and sunny in the middle of January. I used to go there a lot when I lived in Ohio. It was less than an hour away by public transport." Yes, the joys of the last year of his pre Tarsus live. When you could finish your homework in 5 minutes or less and had a brother, who was too busy sleeping around with the female population of campus you had to find some way to amuse yourself in the middle of nowhere.

"When did you live in Ohio?" Sarek asked.

"I went to school there for a while when I was a teenager." Jim replied without giving much detail. Jim always believed his time in Ohio was the most normal part of his childhood even though he was the only 13 year old in his college calculus classes. Actually, on Enterprise, that sort of thing was normal.

"I look forward to seeing you again in two weeks time." Sarek said not responding to Jim's earlier statement. Jim was looking forward to seeing his father in law on a roller coaster. That vision was probably the only thing other than Spock that made him happy all day.

* * *

His baby sister in law wasn't that hard to deal with either. Okay that was a lie, but Jim was trying to focus on the positive. At least she didn't hit or bite. She was easy to pack for eventually - once she resigned herself to the fact that she was going regardless. This was probably because she was completely in love with him and would do almost anything he asked. She was even looking forward to wearing all the things that he sent her that were currently buried in the back of her closet.

The only problem was she didn't want to go with him and Spock in the first place. More accurately, she just wanted to spend more time with her parents. Jim understood this but his stepmother-in-law did not.

Whoever said Vulcan children do not have tantrums was an idiot. There may not be screaming and crying involved but that doesn't mean what's happening is any less painful to watch. He had a front row seat that morning to the show.

"Why can I not go with you?" T'Mandy asked with an angry expression that probably wasn't used that often. She must be getting bratty kid lessons from Amanda.

"That is not feasible." T'Pay responded without even looking up from her PADD. "I will be in lectures the entire time during the break and I am unable to secure an adequate guardian for you and your brother. You should see this as an opportunity to study human mourning rituals."

Okay, Jim found that slightly offensive. Jim knew his stepmother-in-law was an anthropologist, but did she have to turn his mother's funeral into a teachable moment? Jim decided to just keep his irritation to himself as he kept putting things in the suitcase. He was always shocked by the amount of clothing that little girls needed for just a few days… even little Vulcan girls. Jim allowed mother and daughter to continue their argument without interference from him. He had suffered through enough mother/child arguments to know it was tough to stay on the sidelines. His heart hurt a little at the thought that this would never happen again but he just kept packing.

"I do not want to study Human mourning rituals at an actual funeral. I find the concept unseemly and it is disrespectful to James." Jim smiled at that. Jim knew he liked her for a reason. "Why can I not go with Dad? Spock got to go with Dad on all his diplomatic missions." T'Mandy argued. Jim almost laughed. Some things really were universal.

This brought back memories. Jim had loved playing this particular card as a child with Winona. In his case, it had been "Sam did this, why can't I?" The answer in his case had always been "Sam screwed up so we don't trust you not to." Sometimes it absolutely sucked being younger child when you had a sibling that sabotaged everything for you.

It was probably worse for T'Mandy. If Jim thought being compared to Sam, who got someone pregnant as a teenager was bad, it paled in comparison to having a sibling who had managed to get kicked off the planet for stupidity before his untimely death, or another sibling who had told the VSA to go fuck themselves in the most diplomatic way possible. Let us not forget Spock was also the one who had brought home an illogical and reckless human husband, who apparently could not even spell his father in law's name right. T'Mandy was completely screwed.

"That statement is factually inaccurate. Spock only accompanied Sarek 74.5% of the time as a child. Amanda was also there to function as a chaperone. I am unable to function in that capacity due to my own career. Contrary to what many wish, I am not Amanda." He could detect a bit of bitterness in her words even if her tone stayed even.

"Your father only goes on trips a few times a year now. When your brother was young, he spent most of his time off planet on diplomatic missions. The situations are not identical." T'Pay concluded.

This reminded Jim of hearing "I'm sorry you can't live with me on a starship even though others do," way too many times from his mother. From her expression, it seemed his baby sister in law saw through that excuse just as easily as he did.

"I am five years old. I do not need adequate supervision, I can take care of myself." The Vulcan version of irritation dripped off of every word. Jim just laughed at that.

"That line never worked on my Mom, I doubt it would work now and I wasn't five at the time." Jim mumbled under his breath forgetting about Vulcan hearing.

"James is right. That is not a logical justification to allow you to accompany your father. Even at five, you still need adequate supervision. We will revisit this issue when you are older. You should enjoy your time with James and your brother." T'Pay responded as calmly as possible. Jim wondered if she was actually listening to her daughter at all.

"I rather go with you or Dad." That was a telltale sign that Spock junior was spending way too much time with babysitters. Considering her little crush, under other circumstances she would probably have been happy about this.

"I no longer have time to continue in this frivolous conversation. I have a midterm to prepare." T'Pay said without even looking back at her daughter.

Jim could confirm nor deny that he heard his five-year-old sister in law mumble, "You love your students more than you love me." This is actually the second time Jim watched this particular scene that day. It had actually gone better the first time around with Sarek promising to arrange things so she could go on his next mission. There also might have been a promise solicited to allow her to try cotton candy at a real human amusement park. (For Jim's own personal sanity, it would be made with safe for little Vulcans sugar substitute. A sugar stoned five-year-old full Vulcan had to be worse than his own daughter on the stuff. Jim just couldn't deal with it.)

Apparently, asking T'Pay to let her come with her after Sarek logically explained why it was not feasible, even if that was his preference, was an attempt to play both parents against each other. This didn't work any better with real parents as opposed to older siblings, stepfathers, aunts, and uncles. A now defeated T'Mandy was helping Jim pack.

"I realize that you really don't want to come with us to Earth, but it will be fun." He said with a smile trying to sell her on the idea. As an expert in Vulcan body language, Jim could tell it was not working.

"I sincerely doubt human mourning rituals would be more fun than Vulcan rituals. Although, Vulcans do not have fun. How many pairs of socks do I need to bring?" T'Mandy asked without looking up.

"You'll just need a couple of pairs. We can do laundry there. The no fun thing is a lie." Jim wanted to add _your brother is really good at having fun with me_, but there was just too much sexual innuendo in that sentence to use as a logical argument with a five year old. "We will do other stuff after the funeral. My former sister in law turned the old farm into a research center dedicated to interplanetary reproduction complete with a state of the art lab." As soon as he mentioned the lab, T'Mandy gave Jim the Vulcan equivalent of a smile before going all proper.

"I am sure such facilities will be fascinating. However, I would rather attend the negotiations with my father. You do not understand." If he hadn't known better, Jim would have sworn that she was sulking.

"Trust me I get it completely. You know that my dad died when I was really little and my mom was always in space." James told her.

"You mentioned that at some point during your illogical display of emotions yesterday. I found it confusing. I contacted father to let him know what was going on. How is your relationship with your parents relevant?" That explained why Spock had showed up so quickly, Jim thought to himself before explaining.

"Every time she came back home for shore leave, I begged her to let me come with her but she always said no. Her reasons for saying no were always logical, but I was extremely angry for a very long time that she didn't try to change the rules. Instead, I got passed around from family member to family member. One of those family members was a very bad person. Trust me, I understand the situation very well." Jim told her with mixed emotions.

"Yes, but you don't exist for the sole purpose of rebuilding your species. Your parents loved each other. Your mother loved you. You said so yourself yesterday when you started crying. Your father loved you so much he died for you." T'Mandy told him.

"How do you know that?" Jim asked.

"The last few minutes of Kelvin recordings are available on the net." Why was Jim not surprised? "My mother merely tolerates my presence. She is only with Sarek for repopulation purposes. They sleep in separate bedrooms. There is no love, only logic."

Okay, Jim couldn't believe that she had just told him that, but Vulcans were extremely blunt by nature. He knew that the two were two friends, who had decided to have kids together for the greater good. However, Jim hadn't thought T'Mandy knew that. That type of thing was not easy for a 5 year old to understand. He doubted that she completely understood what had really happened almost nine years ago. Jim had been there and he did not completely understand what had happened that day.

"It's not that uncommon for couples to sleep in separate rooms. Maybe your dad snores." Jim added the last as an implausible, but logical excuse. He should have known that she was too smart to buy it.

"Vulcans do not snore. T'Pay has a girlfriend on Earth. She is a professor at Iowa. That's why T'Pay doesn't want me to come with her. Why do you think she decided to fly all the way to Earth during her hiatus?"

Under other circumstances, Jim would probably have assumed this was all in the five-year-olds head, but considering his childhood, Jim knew better. For all he knew, that could be part of the arrangement between the two, but there was no way he was going to ask his father in law that question under any circumstances. The contractions were a dead giveaway that the little girl was very worried about this. There was also the fact that she was not referring to her mother as Mom was lending credence to her argument. This was not good.

"If that's what's happening, that is something your father will have to deal with. However, that doesn't mean it is your fault. This is an adult problem." Of course, that doesn't mean that Jim was going to keep this knowledge to himself. "No matter what's going on with your mom, your daddy loves you." Jim said padding her on the shoulder. That was the Vulcan equivalent of a hug.

"I sincerely doubt that." The girl said pulling away from the gesture.

"Think of it this way, your dad has completely changed his schedule so he can be on planet as much as possible for you and your baby brother. Spock didn't have that but you do." His statement made T'Mandy more at ease.

"Your point is valid." T'Mandy said with a slight shrug.

"Trust me I know this isn't fun for you but I promise to make your time on Earth enjoyable. I know that your brother Spock is looking forward to spending time with you. We will both try to make it as enjoyable as possible with a funeral as the main function of the trip. There are museums and stuff around that Spock can take you to when I'm dealing with funeral things. You can also help Sunk with his Vulcan lessons." He said knowing that would make the little girl happy.

"I find that acceptable." She said in a tone of voice that was the equivalent of Vulcan happy.

"Good." Jim said in response. "Quick question do you have any winter clothing?" Jim asked as he realized everything in the closet was short sleeves.

* * *

After being told, that as a child of a diplomat, his baby sister in law had clothing for every occasion; they were ready for the trip to Earth that would be happening the next day. That was a good thing, because he wasn't exactly sure how to ask his father in law if he had an open marriage. He wanted to get of this planet before he accidentally blurted it out at the worst possible moment.

They would have left today, but Amanda refused to leave the planet until Nyota got out of the hospital. At present, Amanda refused to leave the planet until Nyota was well enough to leave, which would most likely not happen for about three or four days according to a certain overbearing doctor, who had decided to come to this dust ball planet anyway despite being told not to. If that wasn't a sign that Bones was completely in love with Ny he didn't know what was. Of course, his favorite communications officer was in complete denial about that. He knew not to push it, because she was unbelievably dangerous and scary when she was pregnant. More than usual anyway.

Jim understood why Amanda didn't want to leave her 'mommy' behind. He didn't want to leave her and the babies behind on New Vulcan either, but he knew his ass of a brother would not hold off the funeral for a few more days and therefore they needed to leave now. He was more okay with the idea now that both Bones and Alexis were there. That didn't make Amanda more okay with leaving. It led to kicking, screaming, and crying. Jim really didn't have the emotional energy to deal with an 'Amanda moment' and decided it was his husband's turn. His punishment was to pack for Sunk.

Compared to his daughter, Sunk really wasn't that hard to get ready but that was mostly because he didn't have much to pack. It might have something to do with the fact that he wanted to get away from this planet as fast as possible. Most of the few things Sunk had brought from his old house really didn't fit and everything that had been left behind was gone by now. The bitch apparently had had a little bonfire with her son's few meager possessions left behind before police had picked her up. He personally believed that she had been getting rid of the evidence of her neglect.

This meant Jim had to go shopping with a preteen on New Vulcan. Because they had to be on their way to Earth bright and early the next morning this meant doing it the old fashioned way. That was problematic, because there weren't that many shopping establishments on New Vulcan and everything was to Vulcan for his tastes.

The experience was so uncomfortable and pointless that Jim almost considered telling his father in law that his wife might be cheating on him to get out of the experience.

"Did I ever tell you how much I despise shopping unless a computer is involved?" Jim said as he sat on the edge of Nyota's bed as he waited four her to be discharged. Jim spent 15 minutes teasing her about Dr. Grouchy showing up unexpectedly that morning before being told to change the subject. Jim considered consulting his best friend about the father in law situation, but didn't have time, because Bones was too obsessed with Nyota.

"Multiple times." Nyota said with a smile. "There's a reason why I order all of Amanda's civilian clothing."

"Spock and you only do that because … Actually I'm not sure why he and you do that. I probably did something stupid." Jim said scratching his head. Ny was like his husband's personal partner in crime sometimes. When Jim did something stupid, Ny was there to help with the incrimination and to slap him upside the head when necessary.

"You ordered a two year old a swimsuit with a padded bra." Nyota told him incredulously.

"How was I supposed to know that they sold stuff like that for little kids? You really can't tell from the pictures on the web site."Nyota gave him a skeptical look but said nothing.

"Okay, I'm bad at shopping. You have seen my wardrobe. This is why I'm glad I have a job with a uniform." Jim told her.

"I thought Spock threw away all your semi pornographic T shirts?" He opened his mouth wide at that moment. That's what had happened to his favorite T shirt.

"Spock told me Amanda destroyed everything. Sneaky Vulcan. Let's just say shopping is even worse here. Almost everyone here shops by catalog because it's more efficient. Therefore, there's not a lot of old fashioned stores. I have no chance whatsoever of finding winter clothes on a desert planet. Even though it's technically spring in the States, it is still snowing in Iowa." By that point, Nyota was laughing.

"You think this is funny?" He asked her with a pointed look.

"Of course not." She said out loud but she couldn't stop laughing. "Okay maybe a little. You are making this too complicated so you can keep yourself busy therefore not think about why you're going to Earth on such short notice." Nyota knew him too well.

"Why do you know me so well?" Jim asked.

"It is a gift. There's an easy solution."

"Tell me?" Jim asked her skeptically.

"Just buy what you absolutely need to get by until you get to Earth. Buy everything else you need when you get to Iowa, where there is still a shopping mall on every corner." Okay that seemed too simple. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"What about a coat?" Jim asked pointing out the one flaw in her plan.

"How many boys does your sister in law have? I'll put money on the fact that she probably has dozens of winter coats in storage somewhere. Just have her send one to Riverside Shipyard. That's where you are beaming down right?" He nodded yes.

"Good idea. Although, I will have her buy something new. I don't want him to feel unwanted because he's getting hammy downs." That is another thing he disliked about his childhood. Money had been tight growing up because… several reasons that his mother had never talked about. He had hated wearing Sam's old things.

"Is that why you are still taking Sunk back to Enterprise, even though he's not Spock's relative as initially thought?" Jim was slightly shocked that no one had asked him the question earlier, not even Spock. Considering his husband had a link into his mind, Spock probably already knew the answer to that question anyway. Chances were Spock already knew that his father's perfect Vulcan marriage was in reality completely dysfunctional. After their initial conversation yesterday about the DNA test, they had both decided that Sunk would be better off with him and Spock than Foster Care.

"There were many reasons. I don't think any decision can be made without the influence of our personal experiences. Spock and I both have issues. Spock is worried that Sunk will be mistreated for being half-human. Considering that was the major excuse the bitch used to justify her treatment of him, it would just do more damage for him to be in that environment again. He will be better off with two people that completely accept him for who he is regardless of his DNA. Spock and I always thought about adoption and because of the legal custody issue Starfleet can't say no without looking like heartless bastards."

"I see your point, but I thought that was starting to become common here. There are a lot more human Vulcan couples around. Are individuals in inner species relationships and children who are multi species still treated the same way Spock and his mother were treated in the past?" Nyota asked

"More like it's starting to become tolerated. You saw some of the dirty looks we received when we arrived here a few days ago. The majority of those in such relationships were expats living on earth at the time Vulcan was destroyed. Some of those relationships have been in the works for decades. Vulcan has a history of bigotry and intolerance despite how illogical hatred is. Spock's mother used to keep extra cash in the house just in case she had to leave in a hurry due to the Vulcan version of the KKK. She received death threats on a regular basis up until her death. I seriously doubt all the extremists were killed when Vulcan was destroyed. There are still individuals on this planet who will treat Sunk as inferior because he is half-human. Remember the former nanny. What if he gets a foster parent like that? He is already suffered through 11 years of abuse and being told that he was worthless. He needs somewhere safe." Jim justified.

"So this has nothing to do with Frank?" Nyota asked. Sometimes he thought she was the only person in the universe that knew him almost as well as Spock.

"I don't know. Maybe it has everything to do with Frank and my grandmother. You remember what she said before the wedding. As far as she's concerned she no longer has a grandson because I am an "alien loving f#$&*". I was never accepted for who I really was until I met Spock. When we first met, even you tried to turn me into the lady man's stereotype."

"Sorry about that, but in my defense you were trying to sleep with me at the time." Nyota said with a smile.

"It's okay. I just want Sunk to feel safe and be around people who treat him with respect. Do you think I'm being crazy?" Jim asked her.

"No, I think you're being the caring and loving person that you always are. Besides Amanda already loves her big brother, so there's no way you're going to be able to separate the two." That was true.

"She loves you more. You don't want to know about the tantrum she threw yesterday. We are not leaving until you get out of here for that reason. There is going to be a repeat tomorrow when she finds out you are not coming with us. She doesn't want to leave you here."

"There's an easy solution to this problem too." Nyota cut him off.

"Not going to the funeral?" Jim said only half joking.

"You're going." She told him with her usual death glare.

"I knew that would be too easy." He said with a laugh.

"Nice try though. What if Amanda stays here with me? When Dr. Grumpy says I can get on a shuttle, I will meet you in Iowa. I will even bring him with me for emotional support. You're going to need it with your family. Besides, it will provide extra time for grandparent-child bonding." Nyota said as justification.

"More like mother-daughter bonding." Jim mumbled under his breath a little too loudly. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes." She said nonchalantly.

"Because you're not freaking out, does this mean Amanda can now call your _Mom_ in public?" That's when he saw her jaw fall down to the ground.

"You knew?" She asked in shock.

"Her first word was _Mom_. I mean, you breast-fed her. It was pretty obvious from that point onward." Jim said with a shrug.

"You're OK with it?" She asked.

"Yes, Spock and I are okay with it. I'll call him and let him know about what you suggested." The conversation ended then, because Dr. Grumpy finally showed up to fuss over the object of his affection.

Later that night it only took two blow jobs to convince Spock to leave his baby girl behind and ask his father about his relationship with T'Pay. However, that was a discussion for another time.

**To be continued.**


	16. Everything We Leave Behind

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Top five excuses reasons why this chapter took so long.

Number five: Writers depression.

Number four: The beta for this story, Merklin, had a very busy summer and first month of school. It took awhile to get around to this.

Number three: I'm writing too many stories at the same time.

Number two: my mother lived with me for two months due to reason number one and I wasn't able to work on any of the stories that would freak her out.

Number one: in June, I was hit by a van as I walked across the street. This means less energy, fatigue, and spending way too much time in physical therapy.

Hopefully things will return to normal soon.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Everything We Leave Behind**

_19 Years Earlier_

After being married to Sarek for more than two decades, Amanda was very good at telling when her husband was angry even if he would never openly admit to such an emotion (or any other emotion for that matter). Right now she could tell her husband was furious, and he has not even walked through the door yet. His anger radiated through their bond. Amanda just wanted to know why.

She originally assumed that the narrow minded idiots on the VAS board rejected her son for reasons that would be considered a civil rights violation on every other planet in the Federation. Unlike her husband, she was well aware that the board was filled with Vulcan supremacists. She was not expecting that her son would turn down the VAS, or that her husband was more worried about what everyone will say than why his son rejected the institution in the first place.

The ride back to the house was tense. There was no other way to describe it, even without actual shouting. Maybe if yelling was involved the atmosphere would have been more hospitable. Instead, she dealt with awkward silences that ended abruptly with her husband throwing their teenage son out of the house.

"Do you realize that you are being a complete asshole?" Amanda asked as her son went upstairs to pack up his things.

"How can anybody be a specific piece of anatomy? What does this have to do with the current situation?" Amanda took a deep breath as she heard her husband's words. She will not strangle her husband. That would be wrong, even if she wanted to.

"You're forcing your youngest son out of the house because he's not conforming to your idea of the perfect Vulcan. He's not a Vulcan, he's Spock. He shouldn't be judged by these preconceptions that you have in your head. Let him be the person he wants to be!" Amanda screamed at her husband.

"Spock agreed he would follow the Vulcan way." Sarek argued back.

"That's a little hard when everyone here only sees Spock as inferior no matter what. Just because he decided to join Starfleet, does not mean he is turning his back on Vulcan. At least he won't be surrounded by bigots who justify their prejudice with logic in San Francisco. He's not even the first Vulcan to be a member of Starfleet." She argued, but she was sure her husband was beyond reasoning.

"That is debatable. T'Pol was a member of Earth's Starfleet, not Federation Starfleet." She took a deep breath as her husband argued semantics. Amanda kept repeating in her head that strangling her husband would be wrong. The mantra was not working.

"It doesn't matter." Amanda said in exasperation.

"It is an important distinction. Also, there are rumors that T'Pol was only half Vulcan." He continued.

"I don't really care. That is completely irrelevant. I'm not going to stand here and argue with you as you throw my only child out on the street because you're being a stubborn ass."

"As the head of this household, I refuse to have Spock stay in this house one more night. I will not sit by idly as my son throws away his future." Sarek said, finally admitting the real reason why he's upset: he's worried.

"Just because Spock is not taking the path you want him to take, does not mean this will end in disaster. I'm only allowing Spock to leave this house because I know that's what he wants at this point. As your wife, I will not allow my child to be put out on the street penniless. I am entitled to half your wealth, some of which will be going to Spock to help him pursue his current interests." She said looking her husband dead in the eye.

"I will not allow you to do such a thing." Sarek said, grabbing her, but she pushed him away.

"Don't try to stop me. If you do, I will be on that shuttle to Earth with Spock. I will divorce you over this. I love you, but I love our son more. Do not make me choose." She said, giving her husband an icy glare as she heard Spock walked down the stairs.

"Spock, meet me outside in a few moments. I will accompany you to one of the hotels by the public spaceport." She said trying to return to a state of calm. It really wasn't working.

"As you wish, mother." Spock said without even looking at anyone in the room. She wondered how much of the conversation he actually heard. Amanda said nothing else to her husband as she walked into her personal study and grabbed a credit chip that she kept for emergencies. Amanda knew she was hated among certain aspects of the Vulcan population and was always prepared to leave quickly. Contrary to popular belief, Vulcan did have its equivalents to hate groups such as the KKK or the Earth First movement. Not everyone was that illogical, but some were. She was a prime target for being the mother of one of the few multi-species children on Vulcan, and therefore she always kept the necessary resources to get the hell out of Vulcan quickly if she had to. Today she would give those funds to Spock.

The ride to the hotel was only slightly less uncomfortable then the ride back to the house after Spock's decision not to join the academy. Very little was said until they were almost at their destination.

"You did not ask me why I chose not to accept the invitation to join the VAS." Spock asked her once they arrived at the parking lot of one of the better hotels in the area.

"Why should I? I told you I would be happy with your decision no matter what, as long as you were happy. If joining Starfleet makes you happy, I will support your decision." She said with a smile.

"Happiness is illogical." Spock replied.

"Happiness is the most logical thing in the world. That is all I want for you." Amanda said before grabbing a credit chip from her purse. "There are 10,000 credits on this. It should be enough to get you through the next few weeks until I can set up something permanent. I'm sure your father is already cutting off access to your own bank account, despite what I said." Amanda told her son with slight irritation. She knew her husband too well.

"Which is why I transferred funds from that account into a separate account earlier today." Spock informed her directly. She had a feeling that his decision was much more carefully planned than Sarek would ever give his son credit for.

"Very thoughtful, son. I'll take care of the ticket to earth." Amanda said desperately trying not to cry. She has become an expert at suppressing human emotions over the years, but she found herself unable to hold back her emotions just then.

"You do not wish for me to leave?" Spock asked her.

"Not really. Sometimes you have to let go. I will come visit you as soon as I can." Amanda said with teary eyes.

"That is acceptable." Spock responded as he prepared to exit the vehicle.

"I love you." She told him. He didn't say it back, but Spock allowed her to hug him without protest. It was close enough for her.

* * *

_**The Present**_

It was 3:14 AM planet time when Spock woke up from his slumber with James' naked body still wrapped around his. He was expecting to stay asleep for at least 46 more minutes after the various activities that James used to convince him to allow his baby daughter to stay behind with his father and Nyota on New Vulcan for a few additional days. Maybe it was his unusual dream that caused him to rise so early. It was really more of a memory then a dream.

Spock found himself reliving those last few moments with his mother the day she drove him to the spaceport after his father essentially kicked him out of the house. He remembered everything about that moment, down to the perfume she was wearing and the way she hugged him goodbye.

Tonight's dream was most likely triggered by the thought of leaving his Amanda on this planet. He doubted it was because he was leaving home again, because this place will never be his home even if the house looked extremely similar.

Spock rarely dreamed, but it did happen on occasion. Those first few months after his mother's death, most of his dreams revolved around her. Now most of his dreams involved engaging in certain activities with his husband.

Spock realized it was completely futile to go back to sleep when he would have to wake up in 43.2 minutes to prepare for their departure in 2 hours and 21.5 minutes. He also knew that if he stayed in bed any longer, James will wake up and desire to engage in certain activities that will most likely leave James extremely sore and exhausted. As much as Spock would enjoy engaging in such activities, as they would not be able to for some time due to the fact they will be sharing a cabin for the 39 hour journey via commercial carrier with small children, it would be best not to. James needed his rest.

He considered going to the meditation room, but Spock did not have sufficient time for such activities. He could try to grab his PADD and do something work-related in the living room; he was sure he had some journal articles to read. However, James purposely hid that device so Spock would not do that while on vacation. Instead, Spock's only productive option was to journey to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. This would at the very least prevent Spock from having to spend time at the spaceport food court trying to figure out what to get four extremely picky eaters. Even though Amanda would be remaining behind, James was almost as contrary.

He was surprised to find his father preparing breakfast tea and other dishes the traditional way in the kitchen. Unless it was part of a gathering, his father always made his tea in the replicator, claiming it was a waste of time to do this any other way. The white teakettle with blue and red flowers on the stove looked identical to the one his mother had had when Spock was a child. Spock should not be surprised his father had a replica commissioned. Nearly the entire house was a replica of a place that no longer existed. The only differences are there were more rooms and Spock's bedroom/the other guest room was designed for a married man and not a Vulcan teenager.

"You had a replica of mother's teakettle made?" Spock asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"No, it is the same kettle. 13.2 years ago, your mother had a replica made for T'Pay because she found the antique piece fascinating. Unfortunately, the two pieces got mixed up and the original kettle ended up on earth. My Amanda never retrieved it. After Vulcan was destroyed, T'Pay dropped off the original, stating that I would most likely want to have something to remember my Amanda by. It would be illogical not to use it." His father explains.

"It was an almost human gesture." Spock remarked.

"It was a very thoughtful gesture. It was what I needed. That was when she suggested our current arrangement." Spock blamed spending too much time with his husband for his lack of tack and his next words. Before James, he would allow that statement to slide by without question. Now he could do no such thing.

"What exactly is your arrangement with T'Pay? This afternoon while packing, T'Mandy informed James that your wife has a girlfriend in Iowa. She is also convinced she only exists for the sake of saving the species." Spock said as he grabbed the now whistling kettle from the stove. Spock was almost positive he heard a teacup fall on the floor just then. This was confirmed by seeing the shattered pieces on the ground.

"That is unfortunate." His father said as he began to pick up the pieces from the floor.

"It is unfortunate because T'Mandy's suspicions are true? Spock questioned as he went to the closet to get a broom as it always was in the old house. Unfortunately, there was none there.

"T'Pay finds having antiquated cleaning supplies in the house illogical. Just activate the cleaning bot on silent." Spock did as instructed.

"It is unfortunate because her hypothesis is inaccurate. At least, half of it is." Sarek explained.

"The part about T'Pay having a lover on Earth?" Spock asked his father.

"No unfortunately, that is true. It is regrettable that T'Mandy is aware of this. I specifically asked T'Pay to keep her liaisons off planet so that the children will not be affected by the situation. I should have known a child of T'Mandy's intellect would uncover the truth." His father said as he took two more cups out after the cleaning bot successfully removed all the debris.

"I love all my children, including you." Spock was almost sure that was the first time in his life he has ever heard his father say such a thing out loud. If he were human, his mouth would be on the floor in shock.

"None of you exist for the sake of repopulation or having an heir for the family line. If I did not want any of you, none of you would exist. Although technically, Sybok was an accident." If James was there he probably would be laughing at that statement. Spock merely moved the tea kettle over to the kitchen table.

"An accident?" Spock inquired with one eye brow raised.

"He was born exactly 10.1 months after the successful conclusion of my most recent time. However, that does not mean that he was unwanted. I'm sure you will love the two children Nyota is currently carrying just as much as Amanda." his father said as he prepared 2 cups of tea.

"Your hypothesis is logical." Spock said as he grabbed the offered cup from his father. In the past, you preferred to do this utilizing the replicator. Mother was the one who always made fresh tea."

"One can change their habits over time. You wish to know why I accept the fact that my wife is engaged in a sexual relationship was someone else?" His father said causing Spock to drop his spoon.

"I would not ask such a question." Spock said as he got up from the table to retrieve a replacement utensil.

"No, your mother taught you to be a much more polite than that even if your husband has influenced you to be more direct. However, I am sure that you are thinking that very question. Then again, I could ask that same question regarding your spouse."

"The situation is completely different. I was actually there." Spock mumbled under his breath.

"I prefer not to know the details of your sex life even if I had to replace several items of furniture because of it. You will understand once Amanda or possibly Sunk goes through puberty." Apparently his father did know exactly what happened a few days previously when Spock finally convinced Jim to open up regarding his feelings involving his mother's death.

"I already find the thought alone unpleasant." Spock said quickly.

"I did not love Sybok's mother, nor did I find her very pleasant to be around. To be quite honest I was actually relieved when she chose to dissolve our bond. My relationship with your mother was completely different. She understood me in a way others could not. I truly loved Amanda, and losing her was more painful than losing Vulcan itself." His father said in a moment of emotional honesty that Spock never expected to see.

"It has been nearly nine years, yet some days I forget that she is gone. Some days when little Amanda is being too much like her father for my own personal preferences, I have the urge to call her, but I know such a thing is impossible." Spock told his father.

"Your mother would find her namesake quite fascinating. I am pleased that you have decided to allow her to spend additional time with me."

"Thank James for that. It was his idea."

"Contrary to what you think, I do not hate your husband. I know you love him very much, just as I loved your mother. I doubt after he's gone you will desire to be with someone else again, much like your counterpart." His father said without making eye contact.

"Yet you remarried." Spock said with one raised eyebrow.

"I was not given a choice." He said with what suspiciously sounded like a sigh.

"What do you mean by that?" Spock asked his father.

"If I wanted to keep my position on the Vulcan council, I was required to remarry and produce a child within three calendar years. All members of the council of childbearing age were put under this requirement. I had no desire whatsoever to enter another loveless marriage to someone I could not tolerate. Yet I was willing to do so for the sake of our people. T'Pay proposed a compromise: our marriage would be mostly in name except during my time, and we would co-parent any children produced during the union. Unlike most on the planet, I would allow T'Pay to keep her own identity. I rather be married to a friend than a complete stranger if I had no other option. We are both free to see others if we kept it discreet, although, I have no desire for such things. Unfortunately, discretion was not kept as well as assumed." His father added that last part in an undertone as if he was mumbling. However, that was impossible. Sarek did not mumble.

"I have difficulty accepting your statement because elder Selek is unmarried." Spock said regarding his counterpart.

"My child from a different dimension explained that because he is a hybrid, he is unable to conceive children. This was evident by the fact that he and his bond mate were unable to conceive children during their nearly century-long marriage. He was exempt from the rule." Sarek explained. Spock was not shocked at all by his counterpart's subterfuge.

"Do they know that his partner was a male and for the last 70 years of their marriage his partner was in another dimension?"

"They had no reason to doubt what he said because Vulcans do not lie." His father said raising one eyebrow as he took a drink of his tea.

"No, they merely manipulate the facts to their advantage. So you only had Amanda to keep your position?" Spock asked unable to keep the slight irritation out of his voice.

"Of course not; both your mother and I desired more children, but due to the difficulties of Human-Vulcan pregnancy we were afraid to try again. Amanda had three miscarriages before you were born. Such pregnancies were quite uncommon back then, unlike now, and doctors were unsure of how to handle such complications. I consider T'Mandy and Sonnick precious gifts just as I consider you to be a gift."

"Sometimes I doubt that by the fact you spent most of my childhood at work." Spock said without emotion.

"If you remember correctly, I did take you with me as much as possible. I have discovered it is much easier to raise children during your second century of life; it is easier to avoid mistakes the second time around. I made many mistakes when you were a child. I worked too much. I pushed you and your brother too hard to be perfect. I blame myself for his mental break. I deeply regret prematurely bonding you to that wretched T'Pring even if I knew for certain you would dissolve the bond before going through with it. I was worried about you entering your time prematurely." His father said as he uncharacteristically played with his teacup.

"A consort would have been preferable." Spock mumbled under his breath as he took another drink of the liquid.

"Death would have been preferable to being married to her. Her husband chose to burn than to go through the experience with her. It was another arranged marriage that turned out badly. When their respective seventh birthdays come along there will be no bonding ceremonies for either T'Mandy or Sonnick. They are free to be with whoever they want." His father said with complete conviction.

"If T'Mandy brings home a human suitor will you accept that without trying to convince her to accept a Vulcan of your choosing or attaching some condition to acceptance?" Spock asked calling his father out on his behavior regarding James.

"You are referring to how I handled your relationship with James? I only requested that you have a child before you two got married because I wanted grandchildren. Your counterpart informed me that did not occur in his dimension, much to his displeasure. I wanted to prevent that from happening again." If Spock were human, his mouth would have been on the floor in absolute shock. Instead, he stayed silent as his father continued.

"Some of the displeasure I found with the situation resulted from how I discovered that you and James were a couple during one of the many times the Enterprise was helping with the new colony. Instead of telling me that you were in a relationship with someone else, I find out by seeing James performing fellatio on you." Spock remembers that extremely uncomfortable moment. James somehow convinced Spock that a supply closet at the temporary headquarters for the Vulcan Council would be an appropriate venue for such activities. It is unfortunate that his father went looking for additional supplies at that moment.

"I was uncertain of how to explain the situation to you due to your persistence that I get married right away to the first available Vulcan woman." Spock said defensively.

"I was not forcing you to marry the first available Vulcan woman. I am well aware of your sexual orientation and I suggested several male candidates. I would not have done such a thing if I knew you were in a serious relationship and already bonded by the time I discovered the existence of that relationship." Spock took another drink of his tea as he tried to digest his father's point.

"It was never easy for me to discuss things with you. I believe this conversation is the longest conversation we have ever had that did not deteriorated into silence or arguing." Spock said to his father

"It was not easy for me to talk to you on my end. You easily become defensive. I noticed it was always easier for you to communicate with your mother. You shared things with her that you would not share with me. I envied her for that. You told her about the constant bullying and resentment you suffered from your peers, but you tell me nothing of the sort. Maybe if I was more aware of how you were treated, I would have understood your decision to leave Vulcan years ago. I assumed the harsh treatment you received from your peers is the reason why you do not want to come back?

"It is a factor. Although multi species children are starting to become more common, I did not want Amanda to suffer the same prejudice I encountered. She is a very emotional child, and I'm not sure she could handle anyomore hatred or being forced to be anything other than who she is. She already encounters enough prejudice due to the fact she has two fathers and one happens to be an 'alien'. As much as we pretend otherwise, prejudice still exists. I do not want her to feel the same feelings of inferiority that Sunk has developed." Spock said in pure honesty.

"Your point is logical, although most of Sunk's poor self-image was developed from T'Pring's harsh treatment. Not everyone on this planet is like her." His father said in defense. Spock was unsure how to respond to his words, so he asks the one question that he wanted to know the answer to.

"Why do you want me to come back here so badly?" His father visibly exhaled as soon as Spock asked the question.

"I have discovered that I miss your company and wish to see my granddaughter more than every year or two. You and your husband will always be welcome here. I am even starting to find him enjoyable. His mind is very stimulating." Spock was surprised by the response but did not say anything because his younger sister walked into the room at that moment fully dressed.

"What are you doing down here little one?" His father said extending his arms. If he were not Vulcan Spock would have fallen out of his chair when he saw his little sister sitting on his father's lap. Actually, the term of endearment would have done that by itself. Spock was never allowed to do anything like that as a child. He remembered receiving a strange look from his father the few times Spock indulged himself like this as a child. Spock tried to tell himself that he was not jealous of his little sister, but that would be a lie.

"We will be leaving for Earth soon, and I wanted to say goodbye before everyone else was up. Did mother already leave?" Spock could hear her tone become bitter as she spoke the last part.

"She departed for the spaceport 42.3 minutes ago." His father said briskly. That explains why his father was in the kitchen in the first place that morning.

"Oh." She said with what only could be described as disappointment.

"She said that when her schedule permits, she will try to see you in Iowa at the George and Winona Kirk Memorial Research Center. She also plans to join us at Cedar Point. Apparently, she finds Earth amusement parks fascinating, and believes this is an experience that she should share with you." For a moment, Spock wondered if his father's words were true or not. Maybe this is just a father's way of placating his only daughter.

"That is okay. I am aware T'Pay will be busy with various activities, including spending time with Professor Lilly." His sister said not looking at Sarek. That person must be T'Pay's lover.

"She will make time. No matter the circumstances between your mother and me, you and your brother will always come first. You are important to us. You exist because we wanted you and we both love you." T'Mandy seemed much more at peace after that statement. Spock again felt the stirrings of jealousy until he remembered his father's earlier words.

_**To be continued.**_


	17. Welcome home Jim

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Thank you to Teddy Bear for reviewing this chapter. Blame all lingering mistakes on my dyslexia.

**Chapter 17: Welcome Home Jim Kirk: part I**

**4.9 Years Earlier.**

Jim sat in the blue vintage convertible that he rented specifically for this occasion in the driveway of the old farmhouse that hasn't been home since the first time he went to college, at least. Actually, he is pretty sure this place has never been home. If he was being forced to return against his will he was going to arrive there in style. He and his boyfriend were currently being dragged to Iowa for a very Kirk family reunion filled with screaming, crying, and relatives which Jim Kirk could not stand. Actually, there were certain Klingons that he would rather spend time with. He would rather spend quality time with the Admiralty.

The person forcing him to attend this event was his sister in law, Akia. Because he liked Akia a lot more than his brother, she could pretty much could talk him into anything including giving up his wonderful shore leave to show up at the 80th birthday/family reunion for a woman that pretty much despises him for not being straight or living up to any of her expectations, for that matter. Jim was mostly there as moral support for Akia who was dealing with crazy family and a disintegrating marriage.

Even if he didn't have a boyfriend at the moment, Jim would have brought a guy with him just for the shock value alone. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, for the first time ever Jim had a steady partner for a family get together. They were already engaged, not that the family knew yet. They would not know if Jim's tropical island shore leave idea did not fell apart.

To make the best of this completely fucked up situation they were scheduling a road trip across the Americas on both sides of this extremely dysfunctional Kirk family gathering. Even the promise of doing dirty things with his fiancée in the vintage convertible as they made their way to Iowa wasn't making him feel better.

So maybe he was a little worried about bringing the boyfriend home, but that was mostly because he was afraid Spock would run the other way screaming within the first 20 minutes. The only member of Jim's family that Spock has met before was Dr. Akia Kirk unless you count the few times that Spock has had to call his mom after a kidnapping or similar situation. Spock met his pseudo sister two years ago when the Enterprise was assigned to play cruise ship to a delegation of researchers and scientists participating in an S&T exchange with the planet DF3$%GH. Spock instantly found her fascinating but that was because they had science between them.

However, Spock has not had to deal with anyone else in the family yet and that had Jim worried. It wasn't like his mommy even thought about coming to Jim's commendation ceremony or visiting him in space. Sam is just a self-centered dick who only cares about himself. Maybe once Spock realized how crazy everyone else was he would stop loving Jim. This thought constantly ran through his mind as he briefed Spock one last time before crossing enemy lines.

"There is a 98% chance that everything will contain meat. Hopefully, Akia made sure that there's something vegetarian out there. If not, just be polite and we will pick something up later." Jim warned. Spock's response was an irritated glare. Maybe you should have made a briefing book for this. He hates the thought of Spock not being prepared for this insanity.

"Certain family members on the Kirk's side will not speak to me. I don't give a fuck, so neither should be." Jim continued.

"What is responsible for this riff?" Spock questioned.

"I am the black sheep of the family. That's just an expression, Spock. I know I'm not the color black, nor a sheep. I have never been the person that they expected me to be. Although, this is the first family get together I have not been able to avoid since saving earth, so who knows. Just be glad this isn't another of my mom's weddings and you have to put up with her side of the family." Jim said with a shudder.

"Why would that be advantageous?" Spock questioned.

"They are nice to me, there just a little crazy." Jim said not really elaborating.

"Great Aunt Esther will try to pinch your cheeks, just ignore her. She's not going to care about the no touching thing because it's her." Jim said.

"Will she try to shake my hand?" Spock asked with concern.

"No, that will be Uncle Daniel Pine although he might try to pinch your ass too." That triggered another shocked look, for Spock anyway.

"I thought your mother's family will not be attending? I assume he must be from that side of the family due to the different last name." Spock asked raising another eyebrow.

"Daniel is not really my uncle, it's an honorific. He went to high school with my mom and she considers him family, just like with the woman I called Nana. They even joined Starfleet together. Mom probably invited him to come with her to play buffer. He is also a cardiologist now, so he can take care of grandma who will most likely have a heart attack when she sees us making out in front of the potato salad since Bones refuse to come with us, stupid best friend. "Okay Uncle Daniel and his partner would probably freak out Grammy Kirk in their own right but he wasn't going to tell Spock that. The less Spock knew about his mother's head games the better.

"Will this 'Nana' person be here?" Jim felt vast amount of sadness just at Spock's question.

"No, she died when Landon was a baby." That was mostly true. Jim failed to mention that her death occurred on Tarsus. So far, Spock only knew bits and pieces about what happened then. Jim knew he would have to tell Spock everything eventually but it was hard. In an effort to avoid the painful subject, Jim quickly did a rundown of his three nephews complete with list of food allergies.

"Lucky for you my brother is nowhere to be found. He's working on some research project off planet with his new assistant Aurelan." Jim remarked trying not to think about the fact that was the name of the woman that his brother was married to in the other dimension according to other Spock. It was probably just a coincidence. Of course, even without that information his sister in law was worried that Sam was having an affair. Part of the reason why Jim was here was to convince her otherwise. She told Jim that she was sure Sam was losing interest in her. She was considering having another kid just to make Sam happy because he still wanted to try for a little girl.

"How is that a good thing?" His fiancée asked.

"Trust me, Spock it is. According to Nikki, my nephew in the middle, there will be less arguing that way." Jim quipped.

"What else should I be concerned with?" Spock asked changing the subject.

"My mom is never happy with any of my life choices, so don't worry about her. Actually, she's rarely happy." Jim said quietly.

"I am sure that is not the case."

"We'll see." Jim said in a way that basically told Spock that he thought he was wrong but was not going to argue.

"Finally, remember that Grandma Kirk will hate you no matter what because, one, you are not completely human. Two you come from a multicultural background." Spock just raised one eyebrow at that.

"Your mother was Canadian and married the ambassador of a completely different planet. You really don't want to know what my grandmother said to Akia the first time they met and her family is just from a different country. My grandmother is a holdover from a different generation of human being. According to my mother she was a halfway decent person before grandpa completely screwed her over."

"From your description, I find that difficult to comprehend." Spock said almost sardonically.

"I find a lot of things about my family difficult to comprehend." Jim mumbled to himself before continuing.

"The number one reason why my grandmother will hate you no matter if you find a universal cure for all cancers is because you're not heterosexual and you are fucking her grandson. I helped saved earth and sometimes she pretends that she doesn't have another grandchild." There was bitterness in his voice as he said this.

"If your grandmother despises you for something as ridiculous as sexual orientation why are you here for her 80th birthday celebration?" Jim has been pondering that question for a while.

"Because mom is making him." Jim heard a voice say from behind. At first he didn't recognize his nephew because Landon was an entire foot taller than the last time Jim saw him three years ago unless you count the occasional video chat. You cannot really tell that when somebody is sitting down. However, those were definitely Kirk eyes staring back at him.

"Landon," Jim cried out as he hugged his nephew once he approached the car.

"I'm so glad you're here. You can keep mom from killing dad." His nephew actually sounded serious.

"I thought he wasn't going to be here?" Jim asked in confusion.

"So did everyone else. He came as a surprised and he brought a special guest." Jim could definitely pick up on the angry teenager attitude in that response.

"Special guest?" Spock asked for clarification.

"Dad's new research assistant, I can't believe he brought his girlfriend to a family thing." Jim could.

"I seriously doubt Sam would be that stupid." Jim snickered, seriously hoping he was right.

"If he was the type of guy that would lie about being on the shot just because he doesn't like wearing condoms, he's stupid enough to bring his mistress to a family get together." Landon said with biting sarcasm.

"I meant your father would be too stupid to give up someone as wonderful as your mother for a quick fuck. She is the greatest woman in the universe." Jim tried to be comforting, but he knew firsthand that his brother was an ass. Apparently, it's a Kirk family tradition to fuck around on your spouse. It's extremely evident by the vast amount of half siblings in the family tree born two or three months apart.

"Considering your father's field of study, I doubt that he lacks intelligence. Also, if he made a different decision you would most likely not be here." Spock said as they got ready to leave the convertible.

"I guess I should be happy for existing. Maybe." Landon said with his trademark cynicism. "Anyway, I was sent to drag you inside because some of us are tired of watching you two make out every 5 minutes. Great Grandma Kirk already hit the hard liquor." His nephew just smirked at that. Jim wondered if anybody picked up on that stress relief hand job that he got 20 minutes ago.

"And I miss that." Jim said with slight sarcasm. "I guess we better get inside." Jim said reluctantly wishing he was anywhere but there.

* * *

**The Present**

Jim Kirk wondered when Iowa stopped being home. It was definitely long before he hopped on a shuttle at the now snow covered shipyard named after his father where he currently was trying to wrangle three adolescent Vulcans. He only felt somewhat comfortable here because this was the place his baby was manufactured. Riverside hasn't been home since before Tarses, if it was ever home at all. This felt more like arriving on a hostile planet then returning to his childhood home. Then again, this was a hostile place populated with crazy stepfathers, a moronic brother, and a hostile grandmother. He would rather deal with blood thirsty Klingons.

Spock easily felt his apprehension because he was trying to send Jim calming thoughts. That was in helping. Now all they needed was to be accosted by crazy fan girls and this misery would be complete. Chances are that would not happen on Starfleet property which is why they are here in the first place. Because being a captain has its privileges, they were able to materialize at Riverside instead of waiting for pickup at the one commercial spaceport in the state. At least the snakes that masquerade as journalists can't get to them here. Their family already had enough rumors about them going around they didn't need anything about his brand new Foster son to be public. He wanted Sunk to acclimate to everything first.

The sights and sounds of Riverside were definitely something new for the young boy. Considering how bad he was treated by his mom he wondered how much contact the young man had with the outside world.

Jim let out a sigh of relief as he saw his former sister in law waiting in the public waiting area, just inside the main visitors entrance. She was there with the brand new winter coat for Sunk. Considering the snow boots and thick coat she was wearing, the jacket would be needed. Good thing he dressed up the little Vulcans in winter wear before they disembarked.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't have this many kids last week. Also, the one child that should be here is nowhere to be seen. I want my niece." Akia said as she handed him the coat.

"She will be here in 4.2 days time. It was decided that Amanda would stay behind so that she may spend more time with her mother and grandfather." It is a testament to how great Akia is when she does not even bat an eyelash when Spock refers to Ny as Amanda's mom.

"I wanted her to avoid the more crazy expects of a Kirk family funeral or any Kirk family gathering. They have a tendency to be intense. Remember Grandma Kirk's 80th birthday party, five people were arrested." Kirk family events usually involve high quantities of alcohol, deep seated secrets coming out, and somebody being arrested. At the 80th birthday party Akia was the one who got arrested after punching out her husband and his assistant. Too bad Akia gave the bastard a second chance a week later when he successfully convinced her that he wasn't fucking Aurelan. If she was in such a forgiving person, Zachary wouldn't be around and Jim loved his baby nephew.

Of course, the 80th birthday fiasco pales in comparison to Grandpa Tiberius's funeral. That was what family legend was made of. Jim may have been too young for his grandfather's funeral but his great half-aunt Kim's funeral was just as crazy when her husband and her secret lover got in a fistfight in the middle of the memorial talk. What was with his family and the complete lack of monogamy?

"Yet you still brought an innocent baby with you." Akia said as she rescued the fortunately sleeping Sonnick from his arms.

"Sonnick is far from innocent; he bit me twice on the way here. Apparently, toddlers do not like being beamed. He is worse than Bones." Jim said remembering the screaming and crying he had to deal with until Spock had the good sense to meld with his brother to calm him down. He's been sleeping ever since. Jim did not know that full-blooded Vulcan children cried like that until the transporter incident. Sure Amanda acted like that the first time but she was only nine months old. Sonnick was twice that.

"This is my younger brother Sonnick and my sister T'Mandy. The young gentleman that you brought the coat for is my son Sunk." Spock said as a matter of fact, forgetting that you need to ease into that sort of thing with humans.

"Actually, it's our son." Jim corrected him. That resulted in Sunk having the closest approximation to a smile that Jim has seen so far. Jim hasn't seen Akia this shocked since she walked in to see her soon to be ex husband with his mistress at Jim's wedding. Spock was giving Jim a very angry look right now.

Due to various circumstances, Jim may have skimmed over a few important facts pertaining to his brand new child. He was still mad at her for not telling him about Winona being really sick for longer than Amanda and Zachary have been alive.

"You're going to have to explain this to me." At the same time, Jim heard a mental chastisement along the same lines from his husband to complement the dirty look. He was in so much trouble.

"You did not tell me about my mom dying and I didn't tell you about Spock and me adopting another kid. Sorry." That 'sorry' came out as sarcastically as humanly possible. Jim was deciding whose death glare was worse his husband's or his pseudo sister. Then again, that aggravated look he was getting from mini Spock was pretty good.

"You Jim Kirk are complete brat." She said as they started walking out of the arrival complex to the visitors parking lot. Jim was just hoping that they wouldn't be accosted by the riverside chapter of the we love/hate Jim Kirk club. Actually, he was hoping not to be accosted by the press that liked to stalk Jim Kirk club. They should know better than to hang around the shipyard, but that would require morals and the intelligence to actually do so. Fortunately, it looked like they would make it to the guest parking lot without being attacked.

"I knew a little about the situation with Sunk because Nyota told me some things. I wasn't expecting that you would be able to straighten things out so quickly and he would be able to come with you, but I should've figured that out by the request for preteen size clothing." Jim sighed in relief at that. Maybe the relief was triggered by the fact that Spock was no longer wearing his "do not even think about sex tonight" look.

"It's the rest of the Vulcan posse that I had no idea about. Although, now I have a completely legitimate reason to make my ex husband, and the woman that he cheated on me with, stay at the Riverside inn with the rest of the family I don't like. The Kirk family members that you don't like will probably not be coming but unfortunately I can't keep the parts of Winona's family that she hates away from her own funeral." Jim groaned at that. His brother was a bastard. Jim was personally shocked that he would have the balls to even ask to stay at the house. Then again, he was just cheap. His own children want him dead for what he did to their mother. They only kept the last name Kirk, because of their cool uncle. Akia only kept the last name because it is annoying as hell to change names when you have tons of research published under it.

"What is a posse?" T'Mandy asked as they kept walking.

"It is a human synonym for group." Spock said nonplused.

"I just wanted to know why we have two wonderful visitors with us." She spoke using her kid friendly voice. T'Mandy was annoyed but that was a normal state for the little girl. For a Vulcan she seemed to wear her emotions for everyone to see if they took the time to look. Maybe that was because she was a child. Jim was not sure.

"My father had a conference off planet and my mother had no choice but to fire our babysitter due to her xenophobic and homophobic tendencies." T'Mandy Explained. Considering what he knows now, the homophobic tendencies were probably the real reason why the woman was fired. "We cannot be without adequate supervision. It was decided that we would spend time with our brother who is the same age as 73% of the parents of my classmates." It turns out baby Vulcans can do sarcasm.

"Smart child." Jim is pretty sure Akia's remark was filled with that same sarcasm but he wasn't going to say anything. He just wanted to find the vehicle and get out of here.

"Why couldn't Spock's stepmom watch the kids?" She asked Jim in a whisper forgetting that she was surrounded by little Vulcan ears that were better than most sonar systems.

"It is rude to ask questions like that behind my back. My mother would rather spend her break from teaching with her lover than spending time with her own children." Jim had the sudden urge to crawl under the nearest vehicle on the parking lot. If it wasn't for Vulcan stoicism his husband would be equally embarrassed. Akia mouth was open in shock again before she quickly composed herself.

"I'm sure you guys are very hungry after that very long trip. I don't feel like cooking, so how about we get some take out. I assume I have four vegetarians." The Vulcans all nodded their heads allowing for the abrupt subject change.

"Our best options are Italian, Chinese, and Mexican." Jim would be happy with anything. Thanks to the shipyard and the research facility at Riverside the restaurant quality has gone up since Jim was a little kid.

"What is Italian?" Sunk asked in confusion.

"Okay, pasta and pizza it is. We will go to Pisano. The owner's wife is vegetarian and therefore the menu has a good mix. You can't call ahead, so we have to go there in person." Akia said pulling out her keys to open her minivan.

"_I despise Italian." _Spock said mentally.

"_You despise Starfleet Italian. If it comes from a replicator, it is not real food. Trust me you will like where we are going. You had their food before at a very fucked up Kirk family reunion. They make everything from scratch. You need to set a good example."_ He said in chastisement as he put Sonnick in the built in car seat.

* * *

If 45 minutes later Jim found himself with Akia waiting inside Pisano for their order of vegetarian lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, and white pizza. Okay they were really waiting on Jim's meat lovers supreme pizza, that he added at the last minute because he misses real pizza and he has not consumed any animal products other than cheese and eggs in the last 10 days. Being a good little vegetarian when visiting his husband's family nearly killed him, literally.

Jim was actually shocked he was allowed in the restaurant. Apparently, old man Pisano got over what happened with Jim and his older son right before Jim got his act together and joined Starfleet. Saving earth can help overprotective father's get over their anger about you sleeping with their children and not calling the next day. Now that he was a father, he could understand their anger.

Unfortunately, the youngest Pisano girl was there and she had a bit of a crush on him since she was 10. She was shamelessly flirting with Jim despite the wedding ring and the bite marks that Spock left on his neck last night. (It was a long trip on the commercial carrier and they had to do something after the kids were asleep.) Even though he was completely not interested in her she kept coming out every few minutes even though she had other customers to deal with. If Spock was here he would have broken off the little girl's hand when she tried to touch Jim. Fortunately, for Kylee's health, Spock took the children next door to pick up a few things for breakfast and the such along with a few more items of clothing for Sunk. Sure, every single neighbor in a 30-mile radius will probably be bringing over casseroles or something similar in the next few days because that is what you do when someone dies in the middle of nowhere. Jim doubts that anything will be vegetarian. Mrs. Lynam who lives on the farm next to the Kirk property, puts bacon in her macaroni and cheese. Of course, the downside of Spock desperately tracking through the local Wal-Mart supercenter for Vulcan style Cheerios was that left Jim vulnerable to fan girls like Kylee. Fortunately, he had his wonderful sister to save him.

"Kylee, don't even try." Akia said as she forcefully pulled the girls hand away. "The tabloid stuff is completely untrue. He is happily married and he is gay or at the very least Vulcan-sexual. Big breast and curved ears just don't do it for him." She said smirking. "Jim is nothing like Sam, thank the universe."

"I don't believe that." Kylee replied, refusing to get a clue.

"You do remember that I dated your brother? How is he any way?" Jim asked because he probably owed the man an apology.

"Married with children, he lives of his husband in New York with their two sons. He's an advertising now." She almost looked happy telling Jim that.

"It looks like we have something in common." Jim said smiling as he pointed to his brother in law off to the side playing with a toy communicator. She probably thought he was his son. Fortunately for everyone involved, Kylee was called back by her father to actually go do her job. Unfortunately, that created an extremely awkward silence between Akia and him that wasn't broken for at least 15 minutes.

"What is it with children and toy telephones? The boys were all the same way, although they preferred to play with the vintage version of the device." Akia said as she nervously played with her PADD. She probably wanted to send an e-mail or something.

"There's something fun about having an imaginary conversation no matter what species you are." Jim replied back. That was the first thing he said since they got rid of the fan girl. The silence was so deafening that he would be willing to be accosted by a certain angry father. Actually, Jim would rather be making out with his husband somewhere in San Francisco as Nyota dealt with babysitting duty but life sucked like that. Instead, he was back in a place that reminded him of abusive stepfathers and a mom who was never there for said mother's funeral.

"Good, you actually are talking to me." Akia shot back.

"I'm bored and my husband is probably trying to find children's underwear without cartoon characters on the front. I'm still mad at you. Was it that hard to let me know that my mother was dying?" Jim said crossing his arms over his chest and borrowing has husband's 'don't mess with me' death glare.

"That's why I didn't tell you. You and your mother are both beyond stubborn. She didn't want to ruin your wedding by being sick and you had too much pride to try to figure out what was really going on." He could definitely detect frustration in her voice. He has not seen her this irritated since Sam was a complete dick and brought his new girlfriend to Jim's wedding.

"Like not showing up didn't ruin the wedding." Jim shot back quickly. So he was still bitter about that even if Winona actually had a good reason.

"No, I think my bastard ex showing up with his trophy girlfriend ruined the wedding." She actually said while laughing.

"I can't believe Spock's "uncle" had to nerve pinch you to get you to stop fighting." She actually made quotation marks as she said uncle. Akia was probably one of only a handful of people who knew exactly who Elder Selek was. Of course, this is because the old man screwed up and mentioned that in the other dimension Sam was married to the woman that he was currently cheating on his wife with. That encounter was so disastrous that Jim was shocked that his pseudo sister was now on speaking terms with the other version of this husband.

"You're now laughing about my brother screwing you over? He deserved getting his ass kicked." Jim said with a hint of bitterness. He couldn't stand cheaters and what his brother did was just wrong. Being in love with someone does not justify tearing your entire family apart.

"You can either laugh about it or you can cry. I have more important things to cry about." She said proudly with her head held high.

"Like the funeral that we still have to plan." He said sardonically.

"Don't remind me. We have a 10 AM appointment tomorrow at the funeral home on Hamilton. We're getting a discount because Sam went to high school with the owner." She almost sneered as she spoke.

"Like we need a discount, I am married to Vulcan royalty." Jim scoffed.

"But they need the business." She responded.

"Fine." Jim acquiesced. "Why 10:00 AM? Sam's shuttle doesn't get here until 3 PM tomorrow." Jim asked in confusion. Personally, he wished his brother's shuttle would never arrive. Considering how nervous Akia seemed Jim doubted she was happy about this.

"Exactly, you know I do not want to spend a moment more with Sam then I have too. Besides, Winona's will says that you and me are in charge of everything. You know he is not going to be happy about that or what she wants done with her ashes. He's going to be mad as hell when he finds out what else is in her will." Jim understands the cremation thing but was worried about what else was going on. He had a feeling that Akia was keeping certain things from him, again.

"It isn't Something crazy like trying to convince her favorite celebrity to consume her ashes or have the family smoke them?" Jim joked halfheartedly.

"She wants you to spread her ashes in the neutral zone." Jim couldn't help but laugh at this. Even in death, his mom would rather be in space.

"No, he won't be happy. He wants a monument on earth that he can visit whenever he is so inclined. But this is not about him for once." Jim said darkly.

"Which he will probably never visit, and I will have to take care of." She said in anger.

"Let me guess, he does and visit that much now?" Jim asked already knowing the answer to that question.

"Not really and that's probably a good thing. I cannot even remember the last time I have seen my former husband in person. You call more often than he does and you are usually on the other side of the universe." She said in irritation

"I assume Sam didn't know anything regarding mom either?" Jim asked. Akia just snorted.

"You know your mother too well. Though, it was for entirely different reasons. In your case she was protecting you." Akia shot back.

"By not telling me anything, that's just typically her." Jim said with anger.

"It's how she showed she loves you. She shows that she loves me and her grandchildren by completely ignoring Sam. I don't think he noticed." Considering how his mom spoiled her favorite, Jim couldn't see that happening.

"Yeah right." Jim spat out with a laugh.

"You, she tried to call but you never responded. She hasn't spoken to Sam since the divorce was final. She has not responded to a single e-mail or phone call." Jim was surprised to hear that but part of him was glad his mom gave Sam the cold shoulder.

"Yet, neither of us knew." Jim said with bitterness.

"That was not your fault. You have a job that takes you off the grid a lot. Even when you came by to visit we made sure you wouldn't see anything abnormal." Akia said softly not making eye contact.

"My anger took care of the rest." Jim said with a hint of regret.

"I don't feel like dealing with your self-recrimination before I've had dinner. Can we talk about something else?" Akia asked knowing Jim too well.

"Can you forget about what T'Mandy said earlier? She is 5 and she doesn't understand the human concept of tact." Jim said with a little laugh.

"What am I supposed to ignore, her comments about her mother having a lover or that she was instructed by that mother to treat Winona's funeral as a field trip to learn about our culture and the human grief process?" Akia sentence was highly sarcastic.

"Probably both." Jim said with another side. Would it be rude if he joins his toddler brother in law and ignore this conversation? It would definitely be more entertaining.

"Please tell me that no one actually suggested she treats a funeral as an educational experience?" Jim just groaned again at her question.

"I wish I could but then I would be lying. Don't worry even T'Mandy found this suggestion offensive." Jim told Akia quickly before she could get angry. "Everybody found the suggestion highly offensive except for my stepmother in law. She's been teaching for too long. You're not going to ask about the affair thing?" Jim said sheepish away hoping to head off that particular conversation.

"Why should I? I know that's not true." Jim just started fidgeting in his seat.

"Wait, it's true?" She asked blinking back surprise. Apparently, she can read his body language as well as Spock can.

"I'm going to go play with Sonnick now." Jim said in a desperate effort to get away. He would rather deal with Kylee again.

"James Tiberius Kirk, do not run away from me." She said grabbing him by the arm.

"You have the mom voice down." He said as he fell back into the bench.

"That's because I am a mom now. I have been for nearly 20 years." She said with the irritation.

"Can we talk about it somewhere not public? For all we know we could be followed by so noisy reporters and I don't want this stuff to go viral." Jim asked trying to defer. Hopefully, with everything else going on she would eventually forget about it.

"You're such a brat sometimes, fine, but only because our orders ready." She said getting up from the bench.

Thankfully, they were dealing with Antonio rather than his daughter. Jim was just happy the guy didn't spit in his food.

"I added the extra cheesy garlic bread that Winona likes, free of charge. She told me sometimes it's the only thing she feels like eating. I hope she's getting better." Apparently, Antonio had no idea that his mother was now dead. Akia did mention that the announcement was not going to be posted on the local paper's website until Sunday. Jim was too shocked to think about the fact that he knew his mother was sick and Jim did not. Akia seemed equally frozen.

"Winona, passed away Monday." Akia said quietly almost on the verge of tears. "She went peacefully in her sleep."

"I'm so sorry. I did not know. That explains why you are back in town." Antonio said softly.

"That's okay it's not public knowledge yet." Jim responded. Not sure what to say.

"I wanted Jim and Spock to get here before the press descended upon the town." Akia said before pulling out her credit chip. It was quickly given back to her. Antonio would not let her pay. It's a Riverside tradition to express grief with food.

Jim was silent as they walked back to the car. He noticed that Akia's crying as she ate a piece of garlic bread.

"That just made everything real." She mumbled under her breath. "She's really gone."

"I know." Jim said as they got inside to wait for Spock. He did not feel like being inside a crowded store right now.

To be continued.


	18. How to Grieve in Iowa

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

So much for my goal of getting this chapter out in a timely fashion. This is what happens when you write six stories at the same time. After nearly six months, I am mostly fully recovered from my accident except I can only work on my stories about half as much as I did before I got hit by a car. I can no longer sit at my computer for hours on end like I used to.

Note: Temperatures are done in Celsius because I think we will no longer be using standard measurements that far in the future.

* * *

**Chapter 18: How to Grieve in Iowa**

The human grieving process is peculiar, but then Spock found the Vulcan grieving process just as peculiar (mostly because of the vehement denial that such a process exists in the first place). James has been either on the verge of tears or extremely angry since Spock told him of his mother's death. However, being in Iowa seems to amplify the fluctuations in James' mood.

Spock knew his husband was crying when they arrived back in the car after Spock was forced to suffer through the earth institution known as a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Even Vulcan children are susceptible to placing unnecessary things in the cart and begging for toys and/or candy bars. (Spock will not confirm or deny that he allowed Sunk and T'Mandy to get the commemorative Enterprise play set.) Spock does not understand that despite the advancement in shipping and ordering technology, why humans still enjoy going shopping in person. Spock finds the entire thing distasteful, especially the fact that he had to wait in line for 15 minutes for 12 items and it took him 10 minutes to find children's underwear that did not feature cartoon characters. Unfortunately, the alternative was children's underwear with a not to scale image of the Enterprise on the front. (Starfleet allowed licensing of the ship, as well as, Jim and Spock's likeness after the battle of Vulcan to help fund the rebuilding effort.)

James denied that he was crying but Spock knew better. He could feel Jim's turmoil through their bond. He only smiled when Spock presented him with the Enterprise play set (that was originally supposed to be for the children) and adults size Enterprise boxers with the slogan 'my ship is bigger than your ship' on the front.

James stayed unusually quiet at dinner except to explain the different types of food to Sunk and T'Mandy. Even Spock is surprised his sister managed to ask 34 separate questions about the vegetarian lasagna. Despite his normal dislike for Italian cuisine, Spock enjoyed the eggplant parmigiana. Unfortunately, James barely took more than 3 bites of his horrible meat lovers pizza before excusing himself from the table.

"You have to eat." Spock said following his husband out to the porch a few moments later. Spock only stopped long enough to put on his coat and grab another slice of the horrible pizza for Jim. "Although the pizza you consumed is high in calories, I do not believe three bites can sustain you for a substantial period of time." Spock said handing the plate over to Jim.

"You'll be amazed how long one can survive on a few bites of pizza." Jim said looking at the falling snow as he took another drink of his beer. Spock knew he was referring to Tarsus at that moment. It was never a good sign when tarsus was a preferred subject of conversation. Jim was shivering because he decided to grab a beer instead of his coat. "I'm not that hungry, besides regular beer is filled with calories. You can't ride me about that because you went through half a bag of chocolate at your father's house. I'll be fine as soon as the alcohol numbness kicks in." James replied with a hint of sarcasm as he pushed back the plate to Spock.

"The fact that you are standing in the freezing cold without proper winter attire self medicating with earth alcohol tells me that you are anything but fine no matter how ambiguous that term is." Spock told his husband in a matter of fact tone.

"Of course, I'm not fine, acceptable, or optimal. Fucked up seems to be the most adequate description of my current mental state. My mom has been terminally ill for years and I find out that the pizza guy knew before me. I cannot even enjoy his absolutely wonderful cheese sticks because now I know that is-was my mother's favorite 'I'm sick with cancer' food. Fuck, I can't even get the tense right. Being here just makes everything harder in a way. On New Vulcan, I could stay in denial but not here. It just seems real now." Jim said before taking another drink of his beer as he sat on the old porch swing.

"I do not expect you to be fine, adequate or splendid. However, you may feel better if you are not suffering from hypoglycemia." Spock said handing the pizza to Jim again.

"Fine, give me the damn pizza." Jim said as he took the plate from Spock. "Happy now?" Jim asked after consuming the pizza as quickly as possible. Spock was surprised he did not choke.

"I am Vulcan. We do not do happy. I am satisfied that you will not allow your emotions to affect your physical health by becoming malnourished." Spock said as he sat next to Jim on the old porch swing as he placed his head in Spock's lap. Jim said nothing else as Spock ran his hands through his hair, taking comfort in the act. A few minutes later, the silence was broken by Akia arriving on the porch with a mug of hot chocolate and a very large fuzzy blanket that looks like his daughter's favorite Sesame Street character.

"I'm not dealing with all the funeral arrangements on my own if you make yourself sick by sitting on the porch in below freezing temperatures without a coat." Akia said throwing the blanket on Jim after she handed the hot chocolate to Spock. He takes a tentative drink and instantly realizes that this is spiked hot chocolate. Considering the horrors that he suffered involving his five-year-old sister in the Barbie section after he refused to get her the Barbies of the universe play set, this was a welcomed addition. Actually, dealing with James' turbulent emotions secondhand was enough to warrant chocolate laced alcohol.

"Where's my hot chocolate?" James asked with a pout that Spock almost found enduring.

"I could only carry so much. I figured you would like a blanket more than alcohol laced chocolate so you don't freeze your balls off." She said taking the seat across from the couple on the outdoor couch that has been added since the last time they visited. Actually, much was different about the house including the addition of several bedrooms and a furnished basement.

"If you're going to run out of the house in the dead of winter you should remember to bring a coat." She chided.

"Yes, big bossy sister of mine." James said with an eye roll as he snuggled into the blanket and Spock's lap. She just gave Jim a look that his husband refers to as her 'angry mom' look. "Sorry. This is what happens when you live on a starship 90% of the time. You forget the entire universe is not climate controlled. Also, I never turn down anything with alcohol especially when everything is so overwhelming." Jim said taking a drink of Spock's chocolate.

"What's the point of me bringing another cup just for you? You and Spock will just drink from the same cup, just like you normally eat off of each other's plate. You two have exchanged so much saliva through your constant kissing, it's probably all the same up there." She pointed to their mouths.

"I don't know why anybody would think you two have marital problems with the constant groping, coddling, and kissing. You two do everything together even get your mutual girlfriend pregnant simultaneously. Trying to figure that one out was a wonderful distraction during these last few weeks. I'm definitely going to run a ton of tests when Nyota gets here." She said with a laugh, but Spock could detect sadness behind it. "If only your brother considered inviting me along for his dalliance." Her expression became dark at that moment.

"First, I don't think what happened counts because no one remembers what happened. The whole thing borders on dubious consent. Second, would you have considered a threesome just to save your disintegrating marriage?" James said before he reached back down to finish the last of his beer.

"Sorry, the kids pounced on you for gifts and stories of Starfleet adventure before you even sat down." Akia said sheepishly changing the subject as quickly as possible. Jim just let it go.

"That's fine. It almost made this seem like a normal visit. I do have presents, they are up in mom's - I mean the room that we are staying in." Jim said catching himself. "It just feels weird being in there without her." Spock knew that statement was very true considering Jim spent several minutes just sitting in Winona's old chair before coming downstairs. "It just felt weird sitting at that table with her not being here. As a kid, the only time we ever ate in the dining room was when mom was on planet. I don't think you ever met Frank but the man taught us that TV dinner should be eaten in front of an actual television." Jim said before stealing Spock's hot chocolate again. Spock just let him.

"It took me two years to break Sam of the habit." Akia said with a laugh before things became silent again.

"The emotions of this are already overwhelming and we have not even made it to the funeral home yet." Akia said trying to break the awkward silence.

"I think I'm going to need an entire mug of this hot chocolate before we show up at the funeral home tomorrow with extra alcohol. I still don't think I'm up to picking out caskets and flower arrangements yet." Jim said looking at the snow.

"Don't worry. There is one good thing about knowing you are going to die, you can plan your own funeral. She gave me six pages of everything she wanted down to what food people should bring to the wake. She wanted to make sure there was something there vegetarian for Spock. You know how they put bacon in everything here." Akia said rolling her eyes. "All we have to do is make sure Sam does not override her wishes."

"At least there's one good thing about something this fucked up. You think knowing that it was going to happen soon, she would have at least told me about it." Jim said with biting sarcasm. Akia looked on with an angry expression as she literally bit her lip as if she was trying to prevent herself from speaking.

"I am sure she would have if you would have accepted her calls." Spock interjected hoping to defuse the potentially angry situation.

"A good husband would take my side." Jim said with fake hurt. Spock saw Jim joking around as a positive sign. Actually, anything involving Jim communicating at all and not staring vacantly into this snow was a good sign at this point.

"No bad husbands do that. Good husband stick around and support you even when they don't agree with all your opinions." Akia said smiling back. "Maybe you should just go upstairs and rest. Landed and I can get the littlest Vulcans ready for sleepy time."

"I suggest not using that phrasing around my baby sister in law. You'll spend at least 2 hours explaining the origins of the phrase." Jim joked again.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Your charges are currently being entertained by an explanation of the history of pizza. Go upstairs I can take care of this." She said with another smile.

"No, it's fine." Jim said getting up from the couch. "We're still counter programming nearly 10 years of anti human sentiment and neglect. His mom was not even deserving of that title. Being around this many humans is probably freaking Sunk out. Actually, being around this many strangers, regardless of planet of origin, is probably freaking him out as much as Vulcans get freaked out. I'll take care of it. Besides, I don't think I can actually sleep in the room my mom died in. Seriously, you double the size of the house and there's no other room you can put us in?" Jim said finishing up the rest of the hot chocolate in one drink.

"All the other rooms have twin beds and most are occupied by various adolescents. When your 'girlfriend' gets here, she is going to have to share a bedroom with Amanda that has bunk beds. Besides, Winona hasn't stayed in that room since the last husband disappeared because he couldn't deal with a sick wife. I mean literally disappeared. One day when Winona came back from treatment, all his things were gone. It's such a sad thing that the bastard showed up negative for OPV." Akia said in anger and Spock completely agreed with her last sentiment.

"So you're making me stay in the room where my mother had sex. That is worse. I think you just put me there is so you would not hear Spock and I have fun. I'm never going to be able to get an erection in that room." Jim joked.

"That was all part of my evil planned." She said giving Jim a look that he refers to as her 'you've got to be fucking kidding me' expression. Besides, would you rather sleep in my bedroom where I've had sex recently?" Akia said getting up from the porch.

"You had sex recently with something other than your favorite vibrator?" Jim asked raising an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes.

"If you want me to keep sending you and your hubby your special toys you will apologize for saying something that stupid." Akia admonished.

"Sorry, I don't want to make you mad. No one else would be able to get half the stuff you do passed Starfleet because no one thinks to check the packages from Dr. Kirk."

"More like nobody thinks it's strange that a universally renowned gynecologist and sex therapist is sending you stuff of that nature." She joked.

"So you have a new boyfriend that spends the night sometimes?" Jim asked her.

"When would I have time for a relationship when I'm trying to raise four kids and taking care of a sick mother in law? Random hookups with guys so young that I tell myself it's okay that their almost my oldest child's age because I got pregnant when I was a teenager, is about all I have time for." Akia said before leaving the porch.

True to his assertions, Jim was not able to fall asleep in his mother's room even after being asked to tell six different bedtime stories to various children and/or teenagers. Basically James utilized experiences from their various missions to create suitable bedtime stories once edited for content to be acceptable for adolescence under the age of 18. This endeavor would have worked better if his sister did not continuously question the accuracy of Jim's stories. However, all James had to do was smiled at her for her to instantly acquiesce to any of his request. Spock is sure that Nyota's hypothesis about his sister having a crush on James is indeed accurate.

"I heard from Nyota that warm milk can induce sleep. I am not sure how scientifically accurate this is, however, I am sure the Tryptophan should aid in sleep although there may not be a significant enough quantity in milk to induce the desired effect." Spock suggested to his husband after he witnessed James be completely restless for 2 hours. Even though Spock needs significantly less sleep than his husband does, he always goes to bed at the same time and just works on projects or read scientific journal articles. That evening he decided to catch up on various emails as well as e-mail his daughter and Nyota. He would call but it was too late by the time they reached the farmhouse to do so.

The good news is that the doctor released Nyota from the medical facility as scheduled. The bad news is his three-year-old daughter decided to make her favorite aunt a special mural in her bedroom utilizing the old-fashioned crayons her grandmother brought from earth. Although he is disappointed in his daughter, he makes the picture of her artwork his new background for his work PADD. After reading several work related e-mails including one that requested a conference call with the Admiralty as soon as possible Spock was unable to continue because Jim's discomfort was distracting. This was when Spock made his milk suggestion.

"There's not enough milk in Iowa to help me go to sleep and that's saying something because this is still a farming state." Jim remarked as he threw the pillow across the room in frustration.

"Get any good emails?" Jim asked stealing Spock's PADD.

"If you mean a message from Nyota letting us know that she is in good health and will arrive in three days time with Amanda, yes." Spock told his husband not at all surprise Jim used his PADD without asking.

"That's good. Why do I have a feeling that's not all she told you about? Your father sent seven different messages since you last checked your mail, that's not a good sign." Jim said as he started reading Spock's e-mail. At this stage in their marriage, this does not bother him at all. Spock sometimes does the same thing on the bridge. Spock is also not surprised he receives so many messages from his father. However, if he wants to get any sleep tonight it would be best if he does not read the messages until morning.

"It seems that Vulcan paint is not compatible with earth crayons." Jim just smiled as Spock explains in detail exactly what happened.

"How exactly did your father react?" Jim asked.

"He finds her artistic skill quite fascinating according to Nyota. However, I do not want to read his account until morning or at all." Spock said quickly.

"I'm not surprise. I also don't blame you. " Jim said as he looks back down at Spock's PADD. "Oh, this is fucking great. You think given the fact that my mom just died they would give me more than a few hours of compassion." Jim was yelling at this point.

"What is wrong? Spock asked as he placed one arm around him.

"We have to go over to the riverside shipyard for a video conference tomorrow at our earliest convenience to deal with the news about the baby going public. Personally, I am surprise they didn't request something earlier. I had better check my e-mail, I am sure there's more screaming from Pike in there. Although I'm sure he would not be a complete Dick about it." Jim says getting up to look for his own PADD.

"Later, if you continue to become agitated you will be unable to sleep. We will deal with the Admiralty tomorrow. You need to rest." Spock suggested.

"I told you I'm not going to be able to sleep in here. Even though Akia got rid of the horrible flower comforters that mom used in between divorces, it just reminds me too much of her." James said pacing around the room.

"What if we engage in sexual congress?" Spock suggested

"If I can't sleep in here I can't do sex either. I don't think orgasm induce sleep is in the cards. Just talk to me." James suggested as he finally sat back down on the bed.

"What do you wish to talk about?" Spock said pulling his has been in closer.

"I don't know. Did you ever draw on the walls as a child?"

"I was not allowed to have earth crayons as a child." Spock replied without inflection.

"That's too sad. Coloring was always so much fun." James said quickly frowning.

"Not necessarily. This was the result of an incident involving finger paint that my grandmother sent to me as a child and a white carpet." Jim laughed at that. The sound instantly put Spock's mind at ease.

"She just doesn't get it from me. That is good to know. I did the same thing that Amanda did when I was six."

"I'm sure Sam was less than thrilled at your artistic endeavor." Spock said as he wrapped his arms around Jim once more.

"I'm sure he would have been if I did it on his wall. I drew a 'welcome home mom' sign on one of the walls in the living room. She put a bookshelf over it after three days. Actually, I think the bookshelf is still there despite the fact that the room has been painted four times since that incident." Jim said gazing at the picture of a three-year-old Jim and Winona sitting on her dresser.

"Did she take pictures?" Spock asked thinking of the many images that Nyota sent him earlier.

"I have no idea and I'm not ready to look for the family photo collection." Jim said as he looked away from the photo on the nightstand. "I'm not even ready to be in this room." Jim said as he got off the bed and grabbed a blanket.

"Where are you going?" Spock asked in confusion.

"The couch in the living room. I would try to find the bedrooms with twin beds but I don't know anything about the new part of the house." Jim said as he left Winona's old bedroom. Spock followed behind him with two pillows and another blanket five minutes later only to find Jim crying on the couch.

"What is wrong?" Spock asked despite knowing that the answer to that question was Winona Kirk is dead.

"Everything," Jim said in a whisper as he wiped his eyes again. Spock just wrapped his arms around Jim as tight as he would allow. "After our conversation upstairs I wanted to look at the spot where my artwork used to be. I don't know why I'd just, wanted to see the scene of the crime may be. She kept it." That was all Jim said as he continued to cry himself to sleep. Spock did not know what else to do but hold Jim as he cried. Spock was completely overwhelmed by everything he felt but he could not deny his bond mate physical comfort given the circumstance.

* * *

Sleeping on an antique couch that most likely came from the 22nd century was not Spock's ideal place to sleep. It was probably made worse by the fact that Spock was sleeping upright with his head resting on the ledge of the couch as Jim lay sideways with his head still on Spock's lap. His lap was still damp from tears or at least he hoped it was from tears not drool. However, despite the fact that his back felt stiff for the very first time in his entire existence, Spock was okay with the situation if it meant that James received any sleep at all.

Spock regained consciousness after receiving an adequate 3.2 hours asleep. He considered leaving Jim on the couch as he went upstairs but he didn't want to risk waking him after so little sleep. Instead, he grabbed one of the antique medical books Akia kept on her coffee table. Spock was currently reading a fascinating 21st century book about the strange things that humans have put in their various orifices. Even as someone that finds pleasure in anal sex, he does not understand why anybody would put a child's toy up there.

30.3 minutes later, his decision to get up was taken out of his hands when he heard knocking at the front door. The knocking would most likely wake Jim up faster than losing Spock's lap as a pillow. Spock slowly got up from the couch as he exchanged his lap for a pillow before walking to the front door. He arrived near moments before the woman out front rang the doorbell that surely would have woken up everybody in the house.

"Can I assist you?" Spock asked as he opened the door.

"You must be Spock, Jimmy's husband?" Spock nodded his head in agreement. "I could tell by the ears. Winona talks all about yours and Jimmy's daughter Amanda whenever I came by for a chat. She always brings out the wedding pictures and video files of your daughter. She just loves-loved you to pieces and she's always talking about what a great person you are. She like-liked you a lot more than that home wrecking bitch that Sam is now with. That was horrible what he did to Akia. Such a lovely girl, taking care of Winona like that even though she is no longer married to her son. She even moved her practice here. Akia is a good woman."

Seven days ago, Spock would not believe this woman but Spock has learned just as much as James that Winona Kirk was not the person everybody assumed her to be. No one knew the real Winona Kirk, not even her children.

"And you are?" Spock asked as she stepped right by him carrying two casserole dishes and a reusable grocery bag and headed straight for the large kitchen. Spock found her behavior somewhat disturbing.

"How rude of me not to introduce myself, I am Miss Madison from three farms over." She said as she walked into the kitchen. Obviously, she has been in this house several times before. "I heard from Mr. Pisano last night about Winona's passing. It is so sad. She is-was such a lovely woman. It's such a shame what happened to her." Miss Madison sounded as if she was on the verge of tears at that moment. "I always knew Frank was a fucking bastard. Too bad that dick didn't get cancer too. This is why I stick with women." Miss Madison said as she quickly placed the casserole dishes on the table. Then she walked to the cabinet to grab a large serving dish.

"Were you good friends with Winona?" Spock assumed that was the case considering she knows exactly where everything was.

"Yes, dear, I have known the woman since she started dating Jimmy's father nearly four decades ago. I went to high school with George. His mother wanted me to marry him. George just wasn't my type and we had a falling out before he died anyway. She was probably hoping I would turn out straight after all. The homophobic old biddy never liked Winona even if she has treated her better than her biological children ever did. They all turned out just as hateful." She said right before turning on the coffee maker. According to Jim, his mother refused to buy a more modern model that does not require you to add water by hand.

"It's always a shock when somebody your age dies even if you've known for a while that it was coming." The woman said as she took what appeared to be ground coffee out of the grocery bag she brought with her.

"You knew?" Spock asked.

"Honey, Riverside is still a relatively small town despite the population explosion from the Starfleet engineering facility, the new Starfleet Academy campus that they're putting in, and all the research centers popping up all over the place. Everybody knows what her bastard ex husband did to her, the first bastard anyway. The prick should have been the one who got cancer. Actually he deserved to get something that will cause his dick to fall off." Spock could easily hear the venom in her voice. "Even though we all expected Winona to leave us soon, it was still hard to take. I couldn't sleep after I found out. I just could not stop crying really. The only thing I could do was bake. It's my favorite stress release activity. I made quiche and scones. I also brought over fresh ground coffee that I blend in house. It was Winona's favorite." Miss Madison said as a frown appeared on her face. At that moment, Spock heard footsteps coming into the kitchen.

"Miss Madison?" A sleepy Jim asked from the hallway.

"Did I wake you Jimmy?" The woman asked apologetically.

"It's fine. I needed to get up for the bathroom anyway." Jim said with a shrug.

"I guess I should have waited, but you know how it is in farm country. We are always up an hour before the crack of dawn even if most of the farm is now run by machines." She said with an apologetic shrug.

"I know. It prepared me well for life in Starfleet where bad things always happen at 3:21 AM. I'm used to surviving on very little sleep." Jim said, in a joking tone that was obviously forced.

"Oh honey, you shouldn't have too. Losing a parent is so hard." The older woman said as she enveloped Jim in a hug. Spock was just glad the woman did not hug him. "You need as much sleep as possible for the next few days. Lord knows you will need it to deal with Winona's family and all the visitors coming by. I'm sure the Hoovers and the Williams will be over here any minute."

"It's okay. Are these your signature homemade scones?" Jim asked as he escaped her embrace.

"Of course, Jimmy. I made Cranberry chocolate chip and orange marmalade. I also included some of my homemade preserves and fresh butter. I better let you go, so you can fall back to sleep. I'll stop by in a few hours with a nice lasagna." She said kissing Jim on the cheek.

"There's no need to. Akia, Spock, and I will be in town making funeral arrangements. We will probably pick something up there." Jim said in a tone that told Spock this is obviously an excuse. He sincerely doubted that Jim could deal with more neighbors offering their condolences about his mother.

"Poor dear." She said putting her hand over her mouth. "This must be so hard for you. I remember how bad it was for me when my mother died. If you need anything, just call."

"Of course, Miss Madison." With that the woman was out the front door.

"I told you in Iowa people grieve with food. Thankfully, Miss Madison is a good cook. Try the scones with a real butter. I really have to piss." Jim said before quickly running to the guest half-bathroom downstairs. (Spock still does not understand what a half-bathroom is.) At this point in their marriage Spock is no longer shocked by Jim's strange/inappropriate behavior. Spock is just happy that James waited until after their guest left the house.

* * *

The scones were actually quite good especially with the fresh butter. According to James, Miss Madison loves doing things the 'old fashioned way' including making her own butter and preserves. Her farm his still family run. Unfortunately, Spock was unable to keep his sister and new foster son from consuming one of the chocolate cranberry scones. A quick e-mail to Dr. Chapel confirmed that such a small amount would not hurt either child. (Jim was not worried at all stating it was no worse than him drinking a soft drink that contained 5% alcohol as a child.) Although, Spock was happy that the Kirk child responsible for giving two adolescent Vulcans chocolate will be taking the children to the local mall complete with a bowling alley and a Ferris wheel. Reluctantly Jim agreed to leave T'Mandy and Sunk with Landon and his girlfriend who came down from Iowa State to help with the 'morning festivities' as she put it. However, James refused to leave Sonnick with anyone else.

James was also correct about the neighbors bringing over various food goods to express their grief. Before leaving the house that morning, they collected three loaves of homemade bread, two pans of cinnamon buns, a pan of fresh apple strudel, and a bucket of free range eggs from the organic farm next door. Spock was happy that his husband ate a little bit of everything including the spinach and goat cheese quiche considering how little he has consumed over the last few days.

Akia also consumed very little before they left the farmhouse because she was too busy accepting condolences and or food from various members of the community. She was also busy yelling at her former husband despite the fact he will not arrive for two more days.

"Cheap bastard couldn't be bothered to send a message that would get here in a decent amount of time." Akia mumbled under breath as she placed a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread in the toaster. Spock only heard her because of his Vulcan hearing.

"Who brought the apple strudel?" Akia asked James.

"Mr. Hernandez. It tastes just like what his grandmother made when I was a little kid. She was always trying to feed us because Frank forgot sometimes." Jim said as he took another mouthful of quiche. "What were you screaming about?"

"I wasn't screaming. I just received a message from the as—your brother." Akia corrected herself when she noticed the children were around. The woman had a policy to never say bad things about Sam in front of her children no matter how true they may be. Spock imagined this is quite difficult for her considering the content of Sam's character.

"The good news was Sam and his wife missed their original shuttle and will not arrive for two more days. The bad news is that he is so cheap that it took me two days to get his message." She said as she grabbed a piece of strudel and placed it in a napkin.

"At least we will be able to get the funeral together before he arrives." Jim said trying to be cheery as much as anyone could be under the circumstances. "Even better news, my buffer will probably be here before I have to spend serious time with my brother."

"That's true. We have to be at the funeral home in 20 minutes." She said as she poured a cup of coffee into a travel mug. "Jim, you are driving so I can eat." She said throwing her car keys to James. Spock wished she did not because Spock almost threw up twice on the way to the old section of Riverside that James refers to as "main street USA" even though the funeral home was not located on Main Street. Considering Vulcans do not throw up and the roads were completely straight this was quite a feat. James driving always does this to him.

* * *

"That is not my mother. Even though I have not spoken with her in the last five years or really ever, I know that my mom is not of African ancestry." James yelled at the funeral attended as he stood over a body of a woman who obviously was not Winona Kirk.

"Great, this is already turning into death at a Starfleet funeral." Akia mumbled as she held the baby.

Spock just stood calmly on the side watching unsure of what he could do to calm his husband down. He would suggest alcohol but it was only 10:45 AM. He should have given Jim another cup of the alcohol laced hot chocolate this morning or maybe one of the mood stabilizers Dr. McCoy suggested. Maybe this incident would not have happened if he did. Then again, maybe this would not have happened if James did not insist on seeing his mother's body the moment they arrived at the funeral home. Although, it would be better if this incident happened now than at the wake in two days that will occur at the old farmhouse per Winona's instructions. Apparently, she wanted to have her funeral at home. Thankfully the renovated home is now big enough for that.

"I'm sorry apparently there was a mix up with the bodies." The funeral attended stammered quickly as he looked down at his PADD.

"A fucking mix-up! What the fuck do you mean on mix-up? How the fuck do you mix-up someone's body? Do you know how many crewmembers I have had to send back to grief stricken family members? I have never sent back the wrong fucking body to a family." James was screaming and Akia had her hands over his little brother's ears. Spock would have mentioned that doing so would not prevent the young Vulcan from hearing the profanity but this was not the time to point out such a fact.

"There's a glitch in the Computer System?" The man stammered it out as more of a question than anything else. James just looked more furious.

"A fucking computer glitch?" James asked incredulously before letting out another string of profanity in multiple languages and dialects.

"Jim calm down. It's not good to talk like that in front of your baby brother in law. Sarek will kill you if the only words his son can say in various languages are curse words. That could be a diplomatic incident waiting to happen." Akia corrected him.

"It won't be that bad. It only took three weeks to get T'Mandy to stop saying fu—the F word and we were able to fix that one incident where a certain child of mine called a certain diplomat something that almost started a war." Akia rolled her eyes at that just as Sonnick said the word in question.

"Did you have to say that now? Help a brother in law out, will you." Jim said to the baby as he grabbed him from Akia. Apparently, the toddler had the same calming effect on Jim that Amanda had at that age.

"I can take care of the funeral arrangements. It's best if you leave before you kill someone. I packed my old jogging stroller in the van. Take a walk. It's a nice sunny day." Akia suggested.

"Its -3° outside and it is snowing again." Jim complained.

"That's a good day here. That's what gloves and sidewalks that are self melting are for. I will send you a text message if I need you for anything." Akia said practically pushing Jim out of the funeral home much to the pleasure of the frustrated funeral attendant who was still most likely trying to track down Winona Kirk's body.

"Fine, just make sure this idiot finds my mother's body. Spock can you stay here and make sure the moron does what he's supposed to?" Jim asked as he kissed Spock on the mouth. Spock nodded his head in agreement just before Jim walked out of the funeral home with the baby in his arms.

"I'm really sorry Mrs. Kirk." The funeral attendant said a few moments later. The body should be here any moment. Are you sure I can't interest you in any of our top of the line models of caskets?"

"It's either Miss Kirk or Dr. Kirk. I'm divorced but I have four kids and 300 journal articles under that name so I couldn't change it." She said correcting the funeral director. "It doesn't matter what casket we put her in because we're just renting it for the wake and the funeral. Winona wanted to be cremated. Did you actually get the e-mail that I sent you this morning with all of Winona's choices?" Akia said rolling her eyes again.

"I'm sure it's here somewhere." The man mumbled to himself.

"You find that while I consider finding another funeral home. Because if that body is not here in 30 minutes, I will be finding somewhere else even if I have to go to Iowa City to find someone competent enough to not show a grieving son the wrong body." Akia said angrily.

"Yes Miss Kirk, I mean Dr. Kirk." The funeral director said running away quickly.

"You think after 20 years and multiple accidental pregnancies, I would learn not to listen to Sam when he says he has a brilliant suggestion." Akia mumbled to herself.

"I am certain Sam was just trying to be helpful." Spock said trying to comfort her.

"Sam is never helpful. He's a self absorbed dick." Akia said taking a piece of caramel candy out of her purse and putting it in her mouth.

"He's not even here yet and he is driving me to emotional eating." She said with a sigh.

"James does the same thing in a crisis. He keeps a box of Carmel chews in his ready room." Spock told her.

"I think he got that habit from me. Maybe you should go after him. I think he's handling this as bad as I am. If I can deal with four unruly Kirk boys, I can deal with the idiotic funeral director. Jim is probably out there looking for a bar that is open this early in the morning." Akia said with a bitter laugh.

"I seriously doubt Jim is going to take a baby to a bar." Spock said in Jim's defense even if there was that one incident a few years ago.

"How long have you been married?" She asked smirking.

"You have a valid point." Spock said as he did what she said.

Spock did not find Jim in a bar but at a small park down the street. He remembered Jim telling him that he spent a lot of time in that playground as a child with Winona especially before she remarried the first time.

"Akia sent you after me?" Jim asked as he placed Sonnick in the swing designed for children his age.

"She suggested that you could use some company." Spock said as he approached.

"More like she was afraid I would try to take a baby to a bar. I'm a grown up and I know how to take care of a kid." Jim said pushing the swing as Sonnick said another word that a child should not know.

"You do remember taking our three month old daughter into a Hooters?" Spock asked one eyebrow raised.

"Not my fault that you decided that we should take a little vacation to a place where the only restaurant open after 6 PM on a Sunday was a Hooters. They make a really good eggplant veggie burger now." Jim joked. Spock said nothing.

"Was it this overwhelming when your mother died?" Jim asked.

"You do remember I tried to kill you, more than once?" Spock said with a deadpan expression.

"You know the situation is bad when you're telling jokes." Jim said with a groan.

"We will get through this." Spock said kissing Jim on the forehead.

"For some reason, I don't believe you." Jim said as he continued to push Sonnick in his swing.

To be continued.


	19. Life on New Vulcan

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Thank you to everybody who is still reading this story after the unbelievably long break. Now that I have finished _Scenes from Freshman Year,_ this story has become the new project to finish up. .

Georgiana Spencer has graciously gone back and re-edited the earlier chapters. New versions of chapter 1 through 4 are currently up. More revised chapters will be posted as time permits. She also did the new artwork of Sunk for the cover. I will be adding cover artwork to all stories as soon as I can.

I would also like to thank her and Teddy Bear for Beta-ing this chapter.

I apologize in advance that this is a Jim and Spock free chapter but there's a lot of plot stuff happening in this. I will try to work in the couple somehow in the next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 19: Life on (New) Vulcan**

If she didn't love Jim and Spock to death she would have killed both of them for leaving her alone on this planet to deal with meddling family members, overbearing doctors, precocious little children, and well meaning but absolutely clueless members of the Admiralty. She was forced to stay on this planet for an extra few days so she could rest. If she behaves she may be able to leave in three days; but she doubted that was going to happen. So far, it has not been very restful. She would have been more relaxed traveling luxury commercial to Earth right now. (Okay that's a lie. She really doesn't want to think about what traveling with three children and Jim would really be like. The thought alone is giving her a headache.)

"I see you are still in the hospital." Admiral Pike said when he called her the morning that Jim and Spock started on their grand adventure to Earth with a baby, a precocious Vulcan child with the Jim Kirk crush, and an emotionally damaged preteen.

"I will be here until Leonard gets here, he promised to release me." She said with a smile.

"He must really care about you if he is willing to get on a shuttle to the colony. I know he hates those things." The admiral remarked with a very telling smile.

"Everybody knows he hates those things. Dr. McCoy is trying to hide in the bathroom on the shuttle to the academy is legendary." She said, still smiling.

"So is the fact that he threw up on Jim's shoes." He added.

"And mine. But I got him back." Nyota said with another smile. She has thrown up on him at least six times in recent weeks. She doesn't remember being this sick with Amanda.

"I know where this is going, but Dr. McCoy is just a friend." She said for the 1000th time. Every time she says that no one believes her, whether it is about Leonard, Jim, or Spock.

"I wasn't going to say anything." He smirked.

"Everyone else has." Nyota mumbled under breath.

"It's none of my business; although it wouldn't be a bad thing. There would be nothing wrong with such an arrangement from the standpoint of Starfleet regulations. You are not his supervisor and your ranking is very close. He is actually one of the few on the ship you could date considering that your position is the equivalent of a First Officer without the title." Actually he's the only person she can date on the ship that was not married or a complete ass. It takes all her strength to not roll her eyes at her superior officer. She reminds herself that that would be unprofessional. Sometimes she really hates video conferencing.

"Even if I did see him as more than a friend- not that I do," She added so hastily that it probably negated the whole sentence, "the fact that I'm pregnant with somebody else's child makes dating anyone a little hard at the moment." She pointed to her stomach for extra emphasis.

"Not to somebody who actually knows how you got pregnant. The situation was dubious consent at best. I doubt the truth would bother someone like Leonard." He argued back.

"I'm sure your interest in my personal life is not the only reason why you called?" She asked, not wanting to carry on this discussion any longer.

"I also wanted to see how Jim was doing. I called the house but the ambassador told me they already left for the spaceport. Because its commercial transport they will not be able to get any of their official e-mails from me until they get to Earth." He explained.

"Jim is as OK as he can be for someone whose mother just died of cancer. As for being gone so early, you know how Spock is. If the shuttle leaves at 800 hours he must be there at 400 hours. Considering they have three kids with them they are going to need the extra time." It was enough to make her glad that she was only traveling with Amanda or it would if she did not have to put up with everyone else in the interim.

"Shouldn't they have four kids? I thought the guardianship papers for Sunk went through? You really don't want to know the complaints I've dealt with in the last 72 hours because of that. Certain Admiralty members are not happy that another child will be living on Enterprise before the trial is up." That didn't surprise her at all except for the uselessness of it all.

"Amanda stayed to keep me company. I'm sure Starfleet had more important things to talk about than what's going on in my uterus or Spock getting another kid. Not that I'm very surprised by the whole thing. I'm sure they know better to say anything publicly. They're not going to try to stop it?" She asked, slightly worried. Sunk is too emotionally fragile to be away from Jim right now.

"Sunk's presence is covered by the Federation Endangered Species act of 2259. There is little that they can do but that doesn't stop certain more unscrupulous members from utilizing the press for their own purposes. If they do, we will be ready." He said with a wicked smirk. "The reason why I was trying to get in touch with Jim and Spock this morning was to let them know that I was able to find out who Sunk's biological father was." The fact that he used the past tense told her that the man was most likely dead.

"So quickly? I assumed Jim asked you for a special favor when they found out Sunk was half-human?" She asked. She would not be surprised under other circumstances if Jim did this but she doubted he was able to think so rationally under the circumstances.

"No, Mr. Spock-Kirk reported the possible sexual assault of a Vulcan Ministry official by Starfleet personnel about 11 years ago. There is no statute of limitations on incidents of this nature because of the diplomatic aspect. That investigation is ongoing but I can tell you that Sunk's biological father was a Starfleet official assigned to a detail on Vulcan after an alleged indiscretion similar to the current accusation involving a young cadet from Starfleet Academy in London. Because his father is a member of the Admiralty, I'm personally convinced that he used his position to make the situation go away because his only punishment was a transfer to Vulcan." Nyota frowned at that but she was well aware of nepotism in Starfleet. She could tell that Admiral Pike was angry about this.

"You keep using the past tense to refer to the man in question. Is he dead?" Due to the massive losses that occurred during the battle of Vulcan, an entire generation of Starfleet officers was wiped out.

"Yes, he was still on detail to Vulcan when it was destroyed. However, his father is still a _respected_ member of the Admiralty."

"Would this respected admiral be the leader of the We Hate Jim Kirk Club?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, he is also the member of the Admiralty who is trying to push an order that any officer who becomes pregnant on a mission will automatically be grounded, no matter the circumstance. He is also the one who most likely leaked the details of your pregnancy to the press. Not that I can prove it. Personally, I think he is using this as a distraction for reasons unknown." She is not surprised. Jim Kirk had a lot of enemies and they had no trouble using her to get to him. However, every female officer of a certain rank had one enemy on the Admiralty who wished he could make all female officers go away.

"Why does that not surprise me? If I wanted Starfleet in my uterus, I would have screwed an admiral." She mumbled this to herself but apparently her boss still heard her anyway.

"I thought the old saying was,'if I wanted the government in my womb, I'd fuck a senator.'" She was actually surprised to hear her admiral curse. Now Jim did this all the time but if Admiral Pike didn't do so when they were being fired upon by Nero she didn't think he ever would.

"I updated it. This wouldn't be the same misogynist who approved the female officers uniform with a skirt so short that I spent half my shift trying to not show my underwear until I figured out my captain was gay? Thank you for getting rid of that by the way."

"You're welcome but I was only able to repeal it after those short skirts almost got someone killed. It's the same individual." That's when she started cursing in at least three different languages.

"You need to calm down." He said in a soothing voice. "It wouldn't do you any good for your blood pressure to go sky high again. I'm already trying to block it along with every single female member of the Admiralty." Considering there were only five female Admirals at present that did not make her feel any better.

"How can I stay calm when you are basically telling me that there is some rogue misogynist admiral who is actively trying to destroy my career?" She yelled.

She never heard Admiral Pike answer because Dr. McCoy deactivated her long range calling privileges. That led to another fight that did not end until he threatened to make her spend another night in the hospital. She stayed quiet after that because she really did not want to spend another night here. The food was horrible.

The ride back to Spock's father's house was the most uncomfortable ride she has ever experienced, which is saying something considering how badly things tended to go when Spock and his father were forced to spend time together. She could not believe that her mother actually asked Leonard what his intentions were. She was so tired of Alexis getting involved in her sex life. She was 33 years old and did not need her mom to intervene.

Being the Southern gentleman that he is, the doctor spluttered for a good two minutes before saying that she was just a friend. He also said something about being too jaded for a relationship with anyone. Alexis kept pushing him about his real feelings for her. Nyota really wished she would throw up just to end the conversation but the babies were being well behaved for once. Leonard responded by going into pure doctor mode when he asked about how her father was doing at the long-term recovery center in San Francisco that he was staying at. This was complete news to her. She knew that they relocated to San Francisco for better doctors but she didn't think that her father was sick enough to be in the modern equivalent of a nursing home.

"What is Leonard talking about?" She asked her mom.

"He didn't want to tell you." Alexis said cryptically. That just made her more confused.

"Tell me what?" She asked for clarification.

"Your father had more than just a little stroke." Alexis finally said.

"I gathered that. It must be bad if he's living in a long-term treatment facility. How bad? Why did you lie to me?" she said angrily

"You're not well. We can talk about this at another time." Her mom said as they just turned into the driveway.

"No, let's talk about this now. Being lied to, is not going to help my blood pressure any more than the alternative." She yelled.

"There is no need for you to yell." Alexis reprimanded.

"How bad is he? If he can tell you that he doesn't want me to know how sick he is, then he can't be that bad. He has been sending me e-mails for months."

"He is not able to speak anymore nor is he able to communicate through writing. There is a special computer he can use to communicate some. He can answer a yes or no questions by nodding his head. He is not able to walk at all. Basic functions like eating or even going to the bathroom without assistance are beyond him." Alexis explains before Dr. McCoy gave her the more medical explanation.

"You did not think to tell me this earlier? What about his letters?" Nyota asked again. If he was in such bad shape, why was she still getting letters from her father?

"He didn't want you to know. I wrote you the letters on his behalf because I didn't want you to worry." Nyota was beyond furious. Not only was the truth kept from her for months but Alexis actively deceived her.

"Winona did the same thing and look how bad that turned out." She said bitterly. Alexis didn't say a word.

"I'm going inside to play with my daughter. I suggest you not try talking to me until dinner. Maybe by then my blood pressure will be in a good place." She said leaving the vehicle and slamming the door behind her. She can hear Alexis going into an angry rant at Leonard for telling her what was going on in the first place. She just didn't care to stick around even if it was unfair that she was blaming him. Alexis was the one who lied.

The sight of Amanda's welcome home sign in crayons on the pristine white walls of her room was the perfect thing to calm her down. She couldn't stop laughing. Her baby girl could always cheer her up. Though, the look on Sarek's face also helped. He looked like a cross between amused and bemused as he complimented her artistic skills.

After an awkward conversation with Spock's father as Amanda cleaned up her mess downstairs, she carried the three-year-old upstairs to her bedroom to get some sleep, (After avoiding another confrontation with Alexis.) Amanda was asleep in five minutes. Unfortunately, she was not. After spending so much time in a hospital bed she was unable to rest. That's why she noticed when Leonard quietly tried to creep in to her room.

"She's asleep but I'm not. Why are you in here?" She said in a whisper.

"Just checking up on you, I'd be surprised if you were after spending so much time in a bed recently." He responded. "Though, you really do need rest."

"I know. Why did you know that my father was really sick and I didn't?" she asked quietly as he sat next to her on the bed.

"I was consulted on the case. I had some experience with this. I had no idea that you didn't know how bad it was. I would not have said anything otherwise. I just assumed you were being your usual optimistic self." He said with a small smile.

"You mean deny the truth for as long as possible. It's okay. I know you would never lie to me on purpose. I just hate being betrayed by people that I assumed love me." She said thinking of her stepmom and a certain ex-boyfriend.

"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to be betrayed. I wouldn't do it on purpose. I don't even think Alexis' was doing that. She was just trying to protect you, even if she went about it the wrong way. That's what parents do." He explained.

"Sometimes a harsh truth is better than a pleasant lie. You do not need to apologize. It's not your fault. I probably should apologize for the inquisition that led to your slip of the tongue anyway." That was embarrassing.

"There's no need. I think I did the same thing a few days ago with my daughter's new boyfriend or should I say former boyfriend." He said with a smirk.

"That bad?" She asked.

"He wasn't deserving of her anyway. I don't mind. I don't know why your mother thinks anything's going on between us. I'm just a grouchy country doctor. I could never deserve someone like you." He said kissing her on the cheek before ordering her back to sleep.

"I think it's the other way around." She whispered but a sleeping Amanda was the only one around to hear her words.

* * *

Because he could not find a suitable baby sitter on short notice he decided to work from home today. Mrs. Uhura would be otherwise occupied most of the morning finalizing various things and would be of no help. His granddaughter was currently in the adjoining living room going over a preplanned lesson Spock left for her on her pink Barbie PADD.

It was not the first time that he has worked from home so that he may stay with his children. He has done so on more than one occasion when T'Mandy or Sonnick were ill. Amanda would always stay with the children if they were sick and T'Pay felt that was why they should have a fulltime nanny. Her absence was not entirely her fault. It is much easier for him to work from home than for T'Pay to cancel classes.

No one is more aware than he is that he made a lot of mistakes during his first attempt at fatherhood. His oldest child was dead after years of mental hospitalization. The other child only rarely called and only visited under dire circumstances or when his job required it of him. He speaks more often to his son-in-law than his son. He personally believes Spock refuses to move back to the colony because he still hates him for all of his shortcomings as a parent despite his arguments otherwise.

Communication has only improved marginally since Amanda's birth with his oldest living child. Although, can one consider the occasional electronic correspondence containing pictures of one's granddaughter an improvement in communication? 96.78% of the time that was all he ever receives from his son. Although at least receiving these messages lets him know that his child and grandchild were safe. He hates reading the news because he fears hearing about an incident aboard the Enterprise where his son does not survive. Because of this position, Sarek is more aware of the work-related dangers that his son encounters than the general public. He has reason to be worried.

Their ability to communicate has always been less than optimal. Spock was always his mother's son and would only share his secrets with her. Even though she was no longer alive there seems to be little improvement in his relationship with Spock. He longed for Spock to have the type of rapport with him that he had with his mother. At such a late stage, he wonders if such a thing is impossible. His only choice is to do better with his second chance.

During his second attempt, he decided to model his parenting style on that of his Amanda. In retrospect, she was the more successful parent. She always made time to play with the children, so he would too. T'Mandy's room was filled with toys even if her nanny convinced her that play time was illogical. He schedules 30 minutes per day to engage in educational playtime with each child.

Amanda never forced Spock to live up to the concept of the ideal Vulcan even if this meant threatening Sarek with divorce. Therefore, he would not force T'Mandy to partake in outdated traditions or conform to others' perceptions of who she should be. He has been approached by several families to form a marriage bond with T'Mandy, but he has refused. He will not force this tradition again on another child despite outside pressure.

Amanda always listened to Spock without judgment so he would do the same with his two younger children and his grandchildren. He schedules at least 15 minutes every day to speak with each child without distractions. He kept silent when his only daughter revealed her crush on her brother-in-law.

When Spock was sick as a child, Amanda would make him grilled cheese and tomato soup, so he did the same thing with his daughter now. Of course, unlike his wife, he did not know how to cook this dish without the smoke alarms being triggered. T'Pay has assured him that the sentiment behind the action is more important than the actual execution.

After nearly nine years, he still thinks of Amanda as his wife. He still loves her and not a day goes by that he does not think of her. He was only now getting to the point where he finds memories of her pleasant, instead of extremely sad. During the last few days he wondered what his wife would think of young Amanda. In his mind, he could see her on the floor coloring with her namesake. More than anything, he wished it was more than an illogical moment of wishful fantasy.

In comparison, T'Pay was a mere co-parent and friend at most. He could not think of her as his wife despite several years of marriage. They were good parents together. She complemented his style. She understood him better than anyone else living, but still not as well as his Amanda. He could never love her nor did she expect it from him. She had her girlfriend on Earth for love (even if T'Pay did not see it that way) and he had his memories. The most unfair thing of all was how he kept comparing the two in his mind. He should have learned a long time ago that comparing someone to an impossible standard of perfection would only lead to problems. If he was honest with himself, this is where his problems with Spock really began.

He did not want his child seen as inferior because of his human heritage; therefore he pushed him to become the ideal Vulcan. Now he realized that he only succeeded in pushing Spock away.

The only thing he could not prevent as much as he tried with his second chance was his children believing that they only existed for the sake of continuing the family name or the Vulcan species. Spock's doubts were caused by the constant teasing of his peers and Sarek's personal need to keep up appearances for the sake of his position. He let his own son believe that his marriage to Amanda only occurred for the sake of diplomatic expediency because that is what he needed his colleagues to believe. Interspecies relationships are mostly accepted now under the belief that for the Vulcan species to survive at all, as a people, they must diversify the gene pool by whatever means necessary but there are still pockets of intolerance. When Spock was a child, these pockets of intolerance were the majority.

Now thirty years later, his five-year-old daughter believes the same thing despite his best efforts. The most unfortunate part was some of her beliefs were grounded in truth. T'Mandy's mother was a trusted friend but not someone he actually loved and his daughter knew this without him ever saying so. He was with her because it was most logical. The colony needed as many experienced diplomats as possible. To keep his position he needed to marry and produce offspring. Just because he had to do this did not mean that he loved his children less. He still had a choice in the matter. How can he convey this to a five-year-old when he still has trouble convincing his adult son of his love? He was uncertain but he hoped his words this morning helped. He would contact T'Mandy later on.

One thing he cannot do is show love like Amanda did. He did not possess the ability of expressing emotions in words. It was something that he was taught not to do. It was culturally unacceptable. He is not comfortable giving physical gestures of affection or unsolicited praise. Even though he finds the activity enjoyable, he usually must force himself to hug his granddaughter.

He sat in his study reflecting more on his conversation with his son and daughter that morning than any of his work. Despite having several requests to read through and approve, he finds reflecting on his many shortcomings as a father more productive. He is not entirely sure how to make things better. After he reviewed the same report three times and has yet to comprehend the meaning of it he no longer sees the logic in continuing to read when such activities will not be productive.

He decides to join his granddaughter to play a game. He finds Barbies of the Universe most interesting. He sees it as a way to explain his travels to his granddaughter, even if the dolls are not completely anatomically correct, even if their attire was culturally accurate. He expects to find the three year old still working on her lessons. Instead, he saw an entire box of Earth writing utensils spread out on his cream colored carpet and his grandchild is nowhere to be seen. According to the security system she is upstairs. He quickly goes upstairs to find his three year old granddaughter making a welcome home sign for her mother figure on the pristine walls of his guestroom. He is unsure how to react.

When Spock was this age, he did something similar with finger paint. His response was to promptly dispose of the finger paint and find a computer program to fulfill his artistic needs, even if he did keep the painting in his study inside a drawer. Only in hindsight, he realizes this is wrong. (Spock explored the arts again.) He assumed a young child would understand why it was illogical to paint the walls without explanation.

This time he explains slowly why it is not appropriate to draw on the walls, as he gave praise for the skill utilized. He was just starting to make Amanda pick up the children's art supplies when the transporter pulled up to the house. Nyota slammed the door as she entered, muttering various curses under her breath in several ancient Earth languages as she walked up to her bedroom. He recognizes some pre-standard French because Amanda was fluent in this language. He assumes that her anger is directed at her stepmother and father however, he is not completely certain. Her features softened when young Amanda ran to her and enveloped her in a hug.

He did find her laughter puzzling. Then he remembered that was his wife's reaction to the finger paint incident. She even reprimanded Amanda in a very similar fashion.

"I appreciate the thought but next time use paper so I can take it with me." She said, still laughing. "Now let's go downstairs to pick up your crayons." She ordered with a smile as she took the little girl back to the first floor.

"I'm sorry about this." She apologized.

"It is my fault for assuming that a three year old knew not to draw on the walls even if she is quite skilled. However, I am sure there are more appropriate outlets to express oneself artistically. I hope Spock would have taught her better." Nyota frowned at his words.

"Despite the best of instructions kids will still get into everything. This isn't the first time, which is why all the walls in Jim and Spock's quarters are kid friendly. She will take care of this later after her nap. She should have been asleep half an hour ago." She said, looking at said adolescent.

"That's not fair." Amanda whined. He was grateful at that moment that Spock never gave in to such behavior.

"Nothing in life is fair. Time to go upstairs." She said just as her stepmother walked into the house. The angry facial expression directed at Mrs. Uhurah confirmed his earlier hypothesis.

"Look, can we talk about this?" Mrs. Uhurah said as she walked into the room.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it." She said with what appeared to be human sarcasm. "Just give me some time to process everything." She said as she walked up the stairs with Amanda in her arms.

"I'm just going to go take my things to my room for the night." Dr. McCoy said, gesturing to the bags he was carrying. "Thank you again for putting me up for a few days."

"It is the least I can do for someone who has kept my son and granddaughter healthy. You are also here in the capacity of keeping my future grandchildren well. Nothing is more valuable to me then the health and safety of my family. Let me show you to your room." He said, picking up one of the suitcases. "Alexis you may find refreshment in the kitchen if you so desire." He said before walking to the back of the house.

"Under normal circumstances I would have put you in Spock's bedroom but unfortunately the bed was destroyed sometime last night." Sarek said, keeping his tone neutral. It is difficult considering he does not want to consider the circumstances behind the broken bed or other furniture. The fact that his son is doing these things with his bond mate serves as little comfort.

"I wouldn't want to stay there anyway without dousing the entire room in industrial grade Lysol. I know what those two are like. A couch is perfectly fine with me. I've slept on worse."

"That will not be necessary. You will stay in T'Pay's room." He said matter-of-factly.

"You and your wife have separate bedrooms?" He nodded in agreement. "That's not a good sign in any culture. When that happened with me and my ex-wife, before she became my ex-wife, it was only a few weeks before I caught her in said room riding her boss." Sarek was familiar enough with Earth colloquialisms to know this was a sexual reference.

"The situation is different. T'Pay is forbidden from bringing her lovers into the house." He said nonplussed. The doctors seemed slightly startled at the revelation.

"Because it is you, I know you're not joking. Considering how well I know your son, I am not surprised you have an open marriage. What does surprise me is how much you criticize your son for doing the same thing you do. Quite the hypocrite you are." The doctor responded.

"Why does my son consider everything I say an insult?" He asked aloud.

"I'm sure my daughter would say the same thing. You're going to have to talk to him about that." The doctor said gruffly.

"I will allow you to rest after your long journey." He said, leaving the doctor behind not wanting to carry on the conversation further. When he arrived in the kitchen he found Mrs. Uhura rummaging through his food cooling unit.

"Can I just say how shocked I am that you actually have beer in your refrigerator?" She said, holding up an auspicious looking container.

"Spock purchased some two days ago to make Jim more comfortable." He explained.

"That doesn't surprise me. Can I have one?" She asked.

"Of course." He said, being a good host.

"Why are you consuming mind altering substances at this time?" He asked.

"Always one for bluntness."

"Not always. I am a diplomat." He responded.

"Of course. I just had to inform my daughter that her father suffered a massive stroke and will be spending the rest of his life in a long-term care facility as a shell of his former self. We have been keeping the true extent of his illness from her." She said as a lone tear ran down her cheek.

"I assume that she was not pleased to find out the truth." He said, taking the seat, not asking for more details.

"Not at all, but he just didn't want to worry her. It just seemed easier to lie. She is my baby." She explained.

"I have on many occasions lied to my children for the greater good." Sarek told her.

"I think my lie is a lot worse." She said with a sigh.

That's when he informed her about the true nature of his relationship with his wife and the reason why he married her in the first place.

"Okay you win for bigger lie. Children are going to see the truth right away in that type of situation. Nyota was barely older than Amanda when her parents' marriage fell apart but she knew something was going on. I think this is where I went wrong, I should have known she would figure out everything eventually. She has always been good with that sort of thing." Mrs. Uhurah said as she started to drink.

"T'Mandy is already aware of this arrangement. She informed my son-in-law yesterday that her mother was leaving her in his care so that she may engage in relations with her lover on Earth. She felt as if we did not want her, when nothing could be further from the truth."

"That's not good. Is she aware that the marriage is open and that you two have taken other lovers? Maybe she is upset because she thinks her mother's actions are hurting you." She questioned.

"I am uncertain if it would be best for her to know all the details. I do not believe she is old enough to comprehend everything. I personally have not taken a lover. Despite the arrangement, I have no desire to be unfaithful." He asserted.

"I don't think it actually counts as cheating if your wife has a girlfriend on another planet." She said as she took a drink of her beer.

"I meant that I do not want to be unfaithful to Amanda." He clarified and Mrs. Uhurah gave him a very sad look.

"Okay that is an entirely different problem." At that moment, she pulls a small bag of chocolates out of her purse. "I think you are going to need one of these for this conversation." She said giving him a candy bar. He instantly unwrapped it before talking to her about his dead wife in detail.

"I understand to a degree. My husband is not really dead but he's as close as you can be to being gone but actually be living. No more long walks on the beach. He always knew what I was thinking before I would say it. We're no longer able to carry on conversations like we used to. I think I miss talking to him the most. I know I'm never going to find anyone like him ever again but I know he wouldn't want me to be miserable." She said sadly. "Your Amanda has been gone for a long time and I am sure she would want you to be happy even if you deny that you are capable of felling such an emotion in the first place." He remembered Amanda saying something similar once.

"It is difficult." He said sighing.

"Everything is. You know you're not that different than your son. You both started relationships with a friend to feel some sort of void. The only difference was Spock knew when to let go. Now he has found the perfect person for him." She said smiling.

"I think certain circumstances would argue otherwise." He said, not wanting to say something about the fact that he already found the perfect person and he would never find someone that perfect again but he chose to stay silent on that.

"Sex doesn't count when drugs are involved." She quipped. If you are not ready for a new relationship even now, why did you get married? I know about that thing you do not talk about, by the way,but that's no excuse. There are alternatives." He was horrified when she said this. "My daughter usually tells me everything." She said cryptically, not answering his unspoken question of how she knows about this particular thing. That is when he gives her the real reason why he got married and explained the ultimatum given to him by the council.

"I may only have limited knowledge of the Vulcan legal system, but I know the federation system like the back of my hand. What they did to you was highly illegal." She said before asking him several questions including asking for a copy of the ultimatum that he received from the council.

"Thank you for your hospitality but I really do need to leave. I'll be back later." She said not bothering to explain why she was leaving. He said nothing because his wife always behaved in a similar fashion.

To be continued.


	20. Turning lemons into Margaritas

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Sorry, for the long lag between updates. I had to move apartments in a hurry and spent two weeks with family. The good news is I have lots of good material for when the funeral actually starts. My dysfunctional family is great for generating story ideas for this.

Teddy Bear and TPurr were both kind enough to look over this chapter.

Special note: In an effort to make sure I do not get kicked off the site, I will be posting slightly different versions of some of my stories on K/S archives. (This chapter is the same.) If something should happen and my account is deleted, my K/S stories can be found there.

* * *

Chapter 20: Making a positive out of a negative or vice versa

Alternative Title: Turning lemons into Margaritas

Her last few days on the new Vulcan colony had been filled with lots of activities to make her relax. She blames Leonard because he is always trying to take care of her and this is just the way he's doing it this time. She has gone to the Vulcan opera, the new Vulcan botanical gardens, and to the beach. Just because most of the planet is desert like doesn't mean that there is not a beach or two on the planet. There are even a few underwater springs but she did not visit any of those this time. The new settlement on one of the few beaches is very popular with the upper echelons of Vulcan society. Selek has a condo there. (She's half convinced that his wealth was either made by selling future inventions or betting. She's not entirely sure what this Spock would consider more ethical.)

What she hasn't done is speak to her mother. Let's just say she's still a little angry for being lied to. Her post nap discussion with Leonard helped her blood pressure stay in the happy place, but she still had the urge to throw something at her.

The night she got back from the hospital, dinner was a quiet affair mostly because her mother was not there, or maybe it was because no one wanted to say anything that would send her back to the hospital. According to her host, Alexis was busy working on some other legal project. That was fine with her and it wasn't surprising. When Alexis didn't want to deal with something, her mom always threw herself into her work. Nyota wonders how her mom could find a project to keep herself distracted with on another planet.

The most interesting part of dinner was Amanda manipulating things so she would sit next to Leonard. Actually, she did this at every meal for the last few days; once Amanda even maneuvered things so that the two ate alone. She is not even going to mention what Amanda did at the botanical gardens or at the beach.

Her baby was playing matchmaker and Nyota wasn't sure how to respond. She even got her uncle Selek in on the manipulation. He helped arrange the private lunch. It's just wrong when somebody that you've actually had sex with tries to set you up with one of your friends.

She's not sure how to handle the four year olds' manipulations. She doesn't think baby Amanda will fall for excuses that he's just a friend. She is just too smart. Unfortunately, she is too young for the truth which is that Nyota is just too jaded to fall in love again. She did it once and that was a disaster. It's a little hard to fall in love again after you catch the guy you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with fucking someone else.

She had friends (some with benefits) and family, she didn't need a lover. (At least this is what she told herself.) She even managed to get children out of the situation without a one-night stand going very wrong. Okay, the way it happened was somewhat of a public relations nightmare but at least the tabloids are no longer painting her as a "husband stealing slut" but rather a diligent Starfleet member who was the victim of a 'diplomatic misunderstanding' (Yes, that's exactly what was said in the press release. This almost ended up in another misunderstanding). She can deal with co-parenting with Jim and Spock, she has already been doing so successfully for close to four years. She doesn't have time to worry about finding a boyfriend. She has one child and two more on the way along with a very demanding career.

Now her career, that she was worried about. Admiral Richard Dana AKA Admiral Chicken and Admiral Dick, (the ass still has yet to realize that it's an insult when they call him by either of those names) was out for blood despite the blackmail that they have on him. A dead man could not be charged with sexual assault or misconduct, but his father who covered up such indiscretions could face a court martial. She was well aware that her entire career was in jeopardy because of a diplomatic gift gone wrong and Jim making the wrong admiral angry. Then again, maybe he was pissed off at Spock. She remembered Spock telling her about getting his precious son suspended. You don't mess with the son of a diplomat even if your father is a wealthy admiral.

She knew it was highly probable that she would be forced to spend the duration of her pregnancy planet side even if Admiral Dick's original attempt to get all pregnant officers grounded fell through. He had now changed tactics and ironically enough was using the Vulcan Protected Species Act for his own purpose of derailing her career. Because she was carrying two children of Vulcan ancestry, the Federation and Starfleet had more power in ensuring that she gave birth to two healthy babies, even if it meant forcing her to stay planet side for the duration of the pregnancy.

She was not happy when she found out about this. The only reason why her blood pressure stayed in the normal range was because she was at the beach. You cannot be angry at the beach. Okay, so maybe she almost threw her PADD in the ocean, but her second favorite Vulcan stopped her from doing it. In addition, she didn't want to lose her PADD privileges. More importantly, she wanted off this planet with her children intact. That meant staying as calm as possible.

Her talk with other Spock helped. He rarely told her anything about the other dimension but this time he did for the greater good.

"I try not to influence this dimension by revealing too much of what happened the first time around," he started off cautiously as they sat on the beach.

"Yet, you still do a good job of meddling anyway," she said as she drank her juice.

"Be that as it may, your other self regretted not being able to attend her father's funeral because she was in deep space at the time. She was distraught for several days after receiving a message from her brother." It didn't surprise her that her other self would regret that. Because let's be honest, the real reason why she is so angry at Alexis is because she wasn't there. Unlike in the other dimension, her father only had her and Alexis. She needed to be there.

"How did he die in the other dimension?" She asked, not expecting an answer, but she actually got one.

"He died of complications from a stroke. One of the unintended consequences of what happened is the advancement in Medical Technology in this timeline. Your father was slightly older when it happened and due to your mother's position in Starfleet, he had better access to this new technology." She wanted to say something about how she wondered if her father was really living, considering the state that he was in. Instead she just changed the topic of conversation.

"It's so weird how just one little tiny thing can change so much. In one dimension, I grew up with brothers and my birth mother. I think you also mentioned I was a Starfleet brat. In another, I'm an only child who lost her mother early on and I was practically raised by my stepmother. I guess the butterfly effect is real."

"In this dimension you have a wonderful daughter and two more children on the way, when in the other timeline you never had children despite the desire. Not everything is worse this time around," Selek said with one eye brow raised in contemplation.

"Of course, if I want those children to get here I need to take care of myself. Worrying about losing my position because of a misogynist prick is not helping my stress levels," She almost screams.

"Maybe it would be best if you thought of this in a more positive light. My mother refers to it as making lemonade from lemons." She smirked at that for a moment, remembering the woman that she met years ago. That sounds like something she would say.

"How can I see this in a positive way?" She asked her friend.

"If you are on Earth you can spend time with your father during his incapacitation."

"You have a valid point."

"Also, if you go voluntarily you may be able to get some reward for agreeing to compromise." Considering the way his eyebrows were lifted, she just knew he was coming up with something devious.

"We can talk to Chris when we get back to your condo," she said as she looked up to see Amanda burying Leonard under the sand. It was absolutely adorable. She would have to send this to Spock as well, in addition to the welcome home banner stuff she sent before.

* * *

There are three things that Jim Kirk despises more than anything else: Admirals who are not Chris, individuals who kiss his ass to his face and then try to stab him in the back afterwards, and anybody without common sense. His most recent meeting with the Powers That Screw With Everyone provided all three and the beginnings of a migraine. When his former stepfather is the voice of reason, you know things are really bad. This meeting that was supposed to be about how to handle the press situation was a complete joke. Their idea for fixing the problem was ridiculous and already caused at least one diplomatic incident. Jim personally thinks that they should just tell everyone what actually happened, but that would be too obvious for these idiots.

The other part of the solution involves him and Spock being grounded. Supposedly, the public was still wary about families in space. One child they could deal with, but four was too much, especially since they were all members of an endangered species. Jim personally thinks that the only people that are uncomfortable is a certain admiral stuck in the past.

Because he and his husband were still popular from saving the entire planet, that bastard could not fire him unless he did something that could get him stuck on a prison planet for a few decades. Instead, they made him an admiral, the bastards.

They were calling it a promotion, but he knew what was really going on. He was going to be shackled to a desk for the rest of eternity. So what if when the Enterprise finished its current mission in five months he was going to become the youngest admiral in Starfleet history and his husband was going to be the first person to be promoted to that rank without serving as a captain first. (Let's be honest, the only reason why Spock was not a captain was because of the need for tandem assignments.) It didn't matter because they were taking his ship away from him.

The situation was only made tolerable because Pike and stepfather number two got their revenge by suggesting that Nyota become the new captain after the pregnancy and renovations are completed. He is going to ask for the footage from when the admiral who was responsible for this went apoplectic when all the other Admirals in the room agreed. That was going to be his new moment of Zen video.

His only consolation is that he may not be stuck on Earth. After Earth almost got blown to bits, Federation operations are becoming decentralized. It doesn't make sense to have everything on one planet when the technology exists to destroy a planet. Since the incident, two new Starfleet training facilities have been opened on other planets. It made sense considering the influx of non-human recruits after what happened. Nero tried to destroy the Federation but ironically, he just made it stronger. Jim might be able to tolerate a desk job on Babel. Rumor has it that Starfleet is considering a partnership with the Vulcan Academy of Science and may be opening a new satellite campus on the colony in the next five years. Just in time to train the Vulcan baby boomers. Now that they knew that Sarek just wanted his son to move back to the colony because of his loneliness, he could see the old man manipulating things so they would get a New Vulcan assignment. Maybe it would be good for both Spock and Sunk to realize not everybody on New Vulcan is a closed minded idiot.

The Admiralty should be thankful that he is still too upset about his mother's death to throw a tantrum or anything else. Under any other circumstances, he would have thrown a chair at the monitor at the very least. Instead they smiled and took it all in, at least when it came to him. Maybe it had something to do with the little voice inside his head that said 'maybe a starship wasn't the best place to raise four kids' and at least this way he would actually get to see his nephews on a semi regular basis. God knew his pseudo sister needed help. Said voice also pointed out that if he was stationed on-planet, maybe he would have been able to see his mother before she died. (If he wasn't being a stubborn ass that is.)

His will to fight this idiotic decision only came out when Admiral Chicken got his way. Everybody called Admiral Dana that because his family owned Admiral's Chicken. He thinks that it is a sign of honor but it's not. It was decided that Nyota would be spending her pregnancy on earth. They were using the endangered species act as an excuse but Jim knew better. He personally believes that Admiral Chicken not only leaked the initial story to the press, but also the fact that Nyota was having complications just so he would have an excuse to keep another top female out of space. Although on the bright side, people are now sympathetic to Nyota now that she's been painted as the victim in this whole thing instead of a homewrecker.

"We should still fight this. This is obviously discrimination. You're the best communications officer in the fleet and they are taking you away. I don't know how many times you have saved all our asses. Hell, if it wasn't for you there might not even be an earth right now. You don't deserve this," Jim said after the video connection to the San Francisco morons club was cut. Pike was in the room with him because his favorite Admiral decided to come early to help Jim and family with the funeral. Winona asked him years ago to help out. They have been friends for forever. This is why he thinks of Chris as his almost father.

"Probably, but this pregnancy is too high risk for me to get angry over every little thing," Nyota added from New Vulcan. Personally, he is surprised that she stayed calm the entire time. Then again, he's pretty sure he heard a certain southern gentleman cursing under his breath a few times. Bones was like her own personal Spock. Sometimes he was the only person that made her see reason.

"Even your mom would say this is discrimination and we should fight it," Jim argued, and Spock nodded in agreement.

"I'm not talking to my mom at the moment. Besides, she is currently busy with discrimination issues on New Vulcan. Apparently, your father is her new favorite Vulcan. They've been spending lots of time together working on something but I have no idea what." Spock just raised an eyebrow at her comment. Jim was pretty sure Alexis was trying to find Sarek a way out of his marriage of convenience.

"Why are you currently not on speaking terms with your mother?" Spock asked with concern. Of course, that would be the first thing he would ask about.

"Did you know that when my father had his stroke it left him unable to speak or walk? They decided it was in my best interest for me not to know. I found out by accident a few days ago and I haven't spoken to my mom since then except to tell her when the shuttle is leaving." He could tell by the fact that she was on the verge of tears that his friend was very upset about this. This is the most emotion she has shown all morning.

"I know that you don't want to be separated from the babies, but I'd rather be in San Francisco right now. After thinking about the situation for the last few days, I've decided it would be best for me to take a leave of absence for a while anyway. This way I will get paid to spend time with my father and now I am most likely to take over Enterprise. Though, I will hate being away from the babies for months at a time."

"We're going to have to work out some sort of joint custody thing. Actually, we are going to do that just so I can see a certain Admiral that we love to hate when you tell him that you will still need those family quarters." He wouldn't want his daughter away from him for months at a time, but he knew from his own childhood that it wouldn't be good for his kids to be away from their mother all the time. Also, any excuse to screw with Admiral Chicken can only be seen as a good thing.

"Don't worry about anything else. You should concentrate on your father right now. I know I'm currently regretting not answering any of my mother's calls," Jim told her, trying not to cry. The only thing that was preventing tears was Spock's hand on his.

"I would say 'I'm sorry' but I have found that annoying as hell in the last 24 hours. Even Admiral Chicken offered his condolences. Good thing he was safely in San Francisco, otherwise I would have tried to shove a doughnut hole down his throat," Jim growled. Through their bond, Spock came up with something much more creative involving the multiple ways every Vulcan knows to kill someone with one touch.

"The bastard, I can't believe he had the audacity to do that after everything he's done today. That dick owes you child support, not condolences," Nyota practically screamed.

"What are you talking about?" Jim asked, not quite understanding.

"You didn't tell him about Sunk's paternity?" Nyota asked, tilting her head to the admiral.

"This isn't the best time," the admiral stammered. Jim was shocked by this. What did he not know?

"My mom just died, the Admiral that I despise the most is manipulating the tabloids, and I just got punished with a promotion. I've had so much bad news and chaos in the last few days that nothing is going to shock me now. So what do I not know?" He asked with a bit of annoyance.

"I'm going to let the Admiral take this. Besides, I have to catch a shuttle in 2 hours and your daughter refuses to wear shoes." He knew that was just an excuse.

"Not even the sandals with the pink sparkles?" Spock asked.

"I didn't think to try that. Bye." With that, Nyota was gone.

* * *

Honestly, he did not want Nyota to have to deal with the bastard in person or via teleconference. This extra stress was not good for a woman who was barely 10 weeks pregnant, especially one who spent a few days in the hospital. He was 99% sure Admiral Chicken was responsible for the whole pregnancy being revealed to the media, which also wasn't doing anything for her blood pressure. Of course, the bastard didn't count on the fact that the two that he reviled were quite popular and most people did not believe the lies. (Hell, 'Spock' has been the number one foreign baby name on earth for the last five years. Thanks to certain idiots, when Amanda starts normal school, she is probably going to have three kids in her class with her daddy's name.) Pike and his contingent were doing damage control to help mitigate everything, but he was not entirely sure what damage control was in this situation.

Despite that, Leonard was worried about Nyota. Hell, he's always worried about her. The current situation just made it worse. He has always liked her from the moment he threw up on her shoes on the shuttle ride and she didn't say anything. Maybe he liked her because she was the first heterosexual woman to be immune to Jim Kirk's charms. (Anything done under the influence of alcohol, the heartbreak of your significant other cheating on you, or freaky alien fertility drugs does not count. Alcohol is the only reason why he ended up with his baby girl and her cow of a mother in the first place. The only good that came out of that was his daughter.) She was the most beautiful woman on campus, and she wouldn't give Jim the time of day. He just knew then there was something special about her.

She was strong and intelligent, which was his absolute favorite combination. She was handling this current mess with the special diplomatic gift and the dicks that be, with pure grace. She did not crumble when she caught that idiot in bed with another woman, not even when she lost the baby, at least not visibly. She has never been the type of person to break down in tears. Jim was a more likely candidate. Maybe that is why he let himself believe that she already knew about the real situation with her dad. Even if the sky was falling, Nyota would still be smiling on the outside.

Sometimes he felt that he was the only one who could see the cracks in her armor. Maybe the two Spocks and Jim could as well to some degree, but he was the only one who could see everything. These last few days have been hard on her. Finding out about her father was a shock. She was always very close to her dad, because for so many years it was just the two of them. Leonard considers it a small miracle that her blood pressure has stayed in the happy zone. It would kill her if she lost her babies. The first time was bad enough.

Because he knew her so well, he was not surprised that there were no visible signs that she was angry at being grounded. She just smiled as she found that she would be spending the next year in San Francisco. Actually, she smirked when Pike suggested that she be the new interim head of the linguistics department since the old one was retiring. Jim was much more indignant on her behalf. Leonard was kind of glad that he refused to let her do this conference unless he be allowed to watch from the sidelines. Only Chris and Nyota knew that he was there.

"I'm surprised you stayed so calm during that," he remarked as soon as she ended the call, after she almost let it slip about Sunk's parentage. A few nights ago, he heard the whole story so he was not surprised that she used Amanda as an excuse to end the call as quickly as possible.

"If I do not stay as calm as possible, I'm going to be stuck on this planet for another week. I sort of promised Jim that I would be there for the funeral and I'm not letting that dick take anything else away from me. He already took my job," she said while doing her breathing exercises. He put a comforting arm around her. Leonard was just glad her real feelings were finally coming out. He knew that she saw the situation that way despite all outward appearances during the conference.

"But he didn't. You're going to be the interim head of the linguistics department at the academy until you go on maternity leave. Then you are going to get a very shiny renovated ship to play with," he said, pulling her closer.

"Yes, but I'm going to be a billion miles away from my children and my friends. The only consolation is I am going to be with my father." She seemed so sad in that moment.

"So that's the real reason you agreed to this so easily," he said, whispering.

"I need to be there. After mom died, it was just us for so many years. He was the one who dealt with scraped knees and tea parties. I need to be there. I'm just trying to make the best of this situation. You know, turning a negative into a positive." She seemed almost on the verge of tears.

"Yes, the grand old tradition of turning lemons into margaritas."

"I thought it was lemons into lemonade," she smiled back.

"Great granny McCoy enjoyed tequila a little too much," he joked.

"I'm not surprised," she said with a smirk.

"It's going to be okay," he said, placing a kiss on her cheek. As ridiculous as it was, he felt more kissing her on the cheek than any time he kissed his ex-wife on the lips.

"Only because Chris intervened," she said sadly. "Again, I am still going to be miles away from my kids. I think Chickens' plan is that I will hate being away from Amanda and the babies so much that I will just leave."

"You remember that you share custody with a man who doesn't believe in no-win scenarios. Jim essentially told you that he was willing to do joint custody just to piss off Admiral Chicken Dick. Remember to think of the positive," he told her.

"I'm never going to pass up a chance to make him miserable. Plus I'll still have you and Christine when I get back. At least, I won't be completely alone," she said as her mask went firmly back in place. He repressed the urge to frown.

"Probably just Christine, unfortunately. Don't tell her I said this, but I think Christine is ready to be a good Chief Medical Officer. If she can handle Amanda's checkups, I know she is ready to deal with idiot red shirts that blow themselves up on a regular basis. I'm sure the Powers That Screw With People, also known as the Admiralty, will not let me do another tour of duty on Enterprise. Knowing my luck, I will probably end up on whatever god forsaken planet that they send Jim to." (10 years ago, he would have liked a planet based assignment, but he didn't want to be away from Nyota—he means the ship.)

"That's not going to happen. You're coming with me even if I have to make you my first officer," she said with fierce determination that he hasn't seen from her for a while.

"You want me to be your first officer?" He asked in shock.

"Of course, and you already said Christine would be a good Chief Medical Officer. We both know you are qualified. The only reason why you're not the second officer is you despise anything that doesn't happen in your medical bay." He knew that was true, but he never wanted the job. Though, if it meant staying with her, he would take it.

"I hate doing paperwork. I know how much you and Spock do. I would despise doing that." That was true enough, but he would do it anyway if he had too, for her.

"We only do that much because Jim dislikes doing anything on a PADD that doesn't involve shooting people or playing virtual pretty princess with Amanda when he is supposed to be doing other stuff on the bridge," she said referring to Jim's video game obsession. They have all caught him playing video games with his daughter during extremely dull assignments such as star mapping.

"Also, I cannot take you out of sick bay for too long, otherwise you'll get cranky. Say yes. I need you," she said smiling. He knew that if he was ever actually given the position he would say yes. He would follow her anywhere. He was on this desert planet just for her even though his daughter was extremely mad at him for leaving early. It was in that moment that he realized that he just didn't like her as a best friend, but rather he was in love with her. How the fuck did that happen?

* * *

"Okay, what was so bad that you did not want to tell us before the meeting? It has to be bad if Nyota is using going to the spaceport early as an excuse. She hates waiting," Jim asked as soon as Nyota disappeared from the screen. He hasn't seen her end a transmission that fast since the last time her mother called to ask her when she would get a new grand baby. She was definitely uncomfortable if she was using that excuse. She despised waiting at the space port. She once joked that she joined Starfleet so she never had to fly commercial again. After their most recent experience he doesn't blame her. Flying commercial with three children (Vulcan or otherwise) is a miserable experience.

"Not here. There are too many people here that I don't want to hear this," Pike said in a whisper. Jim was not entirely sure that was not some sort of stall tactic. Then again like Jim, Chris did not trust a lot of people.

"Fine, let's get something for lunch. There's a burger joint not that far from here that I spent most of my childhood at. According to a text message that I received during the conference from hell, we are supposed to meet Akia there for lunch in 20 minutes. She just now finished up the funeral arrangements, despite the fact that mom had everything preplanned. We should never have gone with one of Sam's friends."

"I do not think a crowded café would be the best place for a private conversation, especially a burger joint." Spock spat the word burger like a curse word.

"The restaurant has a private dining room and the owner has forgiven me for breaking up with his son two days after prom. It will be perfect." Chris just chuckled to himself and mumbled something like "Why did everyone think you were straight?"

If Jim was being honest with himself, he would acknowledge that he only wanted Chris there so they won't have to talk about anything funeral related with his sister-in-law. He didn't know why he thought that he could pick out his mother's casket or anything else funeral related. This is just too much. Maybe it was a good thing that Admiral Chicken decided to take the ship away. He is too pissed to be depressed and too numb to really do anything about it.

"Is there anything on the menu other than the fried flesh of bovine?" Spock said raising an eyebrow, breaking him out of his anger laced thoughts.

"Yes, French Fries," he joked. "Don't worry, they make a wonderful eggplant burger from scratch and they do a good grilled veggie platter. You know I won't let you starve." His husband just raised another eyebrow.

"Do you remember the Texas Star Dust Steakhouse incident during our road trip to your family reunion?" Spock asked.

"Seriously, how was I supposed to know that we were going to stop at the one restaurant in the Federation that doesn't have a single vegetarian item? Even McDonald's has veggie burgers that they serve on Vegan buns now," Jim said in his defense as they made their way to the transport. Several times Pike asked him how he was doing and each time he just shrugged his shoulders. It was annoying.

They arrived 15 minutes later at the Starfleet grill, complete with an Enterprise replica sign. Spock spent 3 minutes complaining about the inaccuracy of it. Jim couldn't help but chuckle. Trust Spock to always cheer him up.

When he was growing up it was called _Jake's Place_, but that was before the creation of the Iowa Starfleet campus and shipyard. Supposedly, it also may have something to do with him saving Earth, but he tries not to think about that. It felt weird having the same people who hated him kiss his ass now. Half the restaurants in this part of town were either Starfleet themed or had signs that said Jim Kirk ate here, even if half of them were not even around when he was growing up. It was a little sad that so much of his childhood was gone or rather commercialized.

He used to come here for milkshakes and ice cream with his mom every time she was in town. She loved pistachio and he would have a strawberry-free banana split. Nana use to take him here a lot too. According to Nana, his mom's favorite was strawberry but she switched because of his allergies. Why did he never notice the little things like that before she died?

He had his first kiss when he was 11 behind the jukebox, not that he can remember with who. Of course, the jukebox is gone and replaced with various starship paraphernalia. The only thing that was the same appeared to be the menu, even if his favorite ice cream dish was now named after him. In his mind he could see a four year old version of himself sitting at the table with his mom, happy that Sam was nowhere to be found. Maybe they should have gone to that restaurant on South Kirk Street that opened up a year ago. He doubted that place had any nasty memories attached to it.

"Are you OK?" Chris asked as they were seated. The place is still owned by Mr. Jake or rather his daughter Kathleen. Apparently, Mr. Jake died about a year ago. She went to elementary school with Jim and quickly led him to the private dining room without him asking.

Apparently, she also knew all about his mom being sick. First, the homemade pistachio milkshake was one of the few things she could eat without having to consume one of her "medical" brownies or other cannabis munchies. Second, Kathleen was still best friends with Marissa, who has not only moved back to Riverside recently, but was also a cancer counselor at Riverside Medical. More precisely, she was Winona's cancer counselor. It just made absolute sense for her to bring her favorite patient to her favorite friend's restaurant.

"I'm fine. It's just weird seeing my picture everywhere at a place where I used to visit every other Saturday," Jim said with a shiver. There actually was a picture of him covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce at the entrance. Fortunately, he was fully clothed and four years old at the time. Actually, he is pretty sure he has a similar picture of Amanda somewhere.

"You're the hometown hero," Kathleen said smirking. "We had no choice but to put your picture everywhere. Your mom gave me all sorts of good pictures of you to put up. The crazy tours like it. Besides, be happy I didn't include that picture from second grade when you got your tongue stuck to a flagpole from my personal collection." That just got him a raised eyebrow from his husband. He tried to repress that, oh god that would have been awful. Worst of all, his mom was actually in town at the time. She screamed at him for a good 10 minutes. He was so glad that picture was not released for public consumption. He was always afraid that Amanda would try the same thing the first time they were somewhere cold and snowy. He doesn't have to worry about that now unless they end up at the Delta Vega research Post. Considering how many members of the Admiralty absolutely hate him, it is highly probable. Jim wonders how he's going to survive being one of them when he hates everyone but Chris, Richard, Chloe and Daria. (Yes she was named after a 20th century cartoon character.)

"Can I please buy that picture back?" Jim asked.

"I will send you the file. Consider it my "I'm sorry your mom died" gift. Also this lunch is on the house."

"You don't have to do that." Jim said, tired of everybody thinking food will make everything ok. He's going to be chunky by the time he gets back home. (Not that it's going to be his home much longer thanks to Admiral Chicken.)

"Yes I do. I love-loved your mom. She was really there for me after my dad died and I ended up with this place on the verge of bankruptcy. She was one of my investors. She really helped me turn this place around despite being as sick as she was. Actually, depending on the will, you may just be a part owner of this place."

Jim sincerely wished she had not mentioned that. He doesn't want to think about inheritance or anything left behind. He just wants his mom back, but that wasn't going to happen.

After taking their drink orders Kathleen finally left, allowing Jim to ask about why his BFF thinks that a certain Admiral should pay him child support.

"I was hoping you two would forget about that," Pike said with a sigh as he put his menu down.

"Just like my favorite husband, I also have a photographic memory. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. We never forget. What is going on Chris?" Jim asked again.

"Spock called me after you found out about Sunk's parentage and your suspicions that T'Pring pregnancy was not voluntary. I did a little digging and it seems like your hypothesis is highly probable," Pike started to explain. Jim knew nothing about this but he is not surprised. Even though Spock despised his former intended, he still wanted justice for everyone.

"I could see Admiral Chicken being the type of guy that would drug a woman to get what he wants. Honestly, I can't see any self respecting woman sleeping with him voluntarily," he snickered. Admiral Chicken was the worst type of person and had little respect for anyone different than him. He comes from a long line of closed minded people. The only reason why the guy made it so far in Starfleet was because his family is loaded and very good at making donations to the right people. Step dad number two and Pike think that the guy's an idiot. Jim is inclined to agree.

"Someone did at some point. The Admiral had at least one son who was in my year at the academy. I had the misfortune of sharing a dorm room with this individual for three weeks." Jim only remembers Spock talking about having one roommate at the academy. The guy was a complete bastard who thought it would be funny to lace all of Spock's food with certain substances that are toxic to Vulcans. Thanks to being half-human, the only consequence was lots of throwing up. The guy only got suspended for the rest of the semester because he claimed it was an accident. Jim believes this is a prime example of nepotism at work. The irony was not lost on him because Admiral Chicken always liked to accuse him of getting his job because of the same thing.

"Then you're well acquainted with the son's reputation. The guy was a troublemaker and almost served on my ship, but I refused. I thought he was better off on Vulcan where he would be unlikely to cause an interplanetary diplomatic incident. At least, that is what I thought at the time. According to a DNA test he still caused enough trouble apparently. He was Sunk's biological father." Even if he had not used the past tense, Jim knew the guy was dead.

"Fuck." Was the only thing Jim said for a few moments before the shock wore off.

"Why didn't you tell us this before the meeting, maybe we would've been able to use this to our advantage?" Jim asked his friend. Spock gave him another dark look. He also experienced an unusual amount of guilt through the bond.

"Because you have a tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Besides, I did use it. You were promoted, not reassigned to the far reaches of the galaxy to do star mapping until Amanda gets into college. That was his original plan." Chris said this in a way that made Jim believe him entirely.

"I don't care that I am going to be promoted. They're taking my ship away. The only good thing is at least they are putting it in the hands of someone who is not a complete idiot. Unfortunately, that means my other best friend is going to be halfway across the universe." Jim actually pouted at this.

"Seriously, sometimes I think there's something wrong with you. Only you would complain about getting promoted, or the fact that your daughter will actually have a normal childhood," Akia said as she quickly walked into the room. He never really thought of her point before.

"It's more complicated than that."

"It always is. You can tell me after I have something chocolate," she said, grabbing a menu. "I need something after dealing with idiots all morning. I am never taking advice from Sam again."

"Try the chocolate cream cake," Jim suggested, before reminding his husband not to have anything with chocolate in it. He was so not dealing with an inebriated husband.

"Oh yes, speaking of Vulcans and chocolate, next time you tell my son not to give your child something, please make sure you explain why. He thought you were just being a mean uncle when you said the kids couldn't have anything with chocolate. He called me in a complete panic 30 minutes ago thinking that he accidentally gave the kids Winona's 'special brownies'. Don't worry, they're fine, but running around throwing snowballs at everyone." Part of Jim wanted to see that. The other part hoped that his father-in-law will never hear about this. Spock almost looked amused.

"So that explains why you're late," Jim said thoughtfully." I'm surprised you did not go right back to the farm."

"Like I'm going to go deal with completely chocolate stoned Vulcan children. They only had a small brownie each. It's like giving a kid a Malta. That's only enough chocolate to get them to be normal hyperactive children, but not enough to cause any physical damage. Besides, there are a few dozen med students and fully trained doctors next door, including Marcus. They will be fine."

"Are you positive they did not get into Miss Kirk's therapeutic Brownies?" Spock asked.

"Those are a locked away in my office. I'll let you have one tonight when you tell me all about what happened at the staff meeting." That part was whispered so low that only he and Spock heard it. Sometimes he really loved his sister in law.

To be continued.


	21. Confessions of the brownie kind

Thank you to everyone who read or review the last chapter. Sorry, it has been a while; I decided to finish off the last three chapters of Dear Spock together which put me behind in the rotation. But now that the story is done updates will become a bit more regular I hope.

Thank you to Teddy Bear and Unforgiven1290 for being the betas on this chapter.

Warning: Drug use and a major plot twist. There is also some sexual content in here.

This is an M chapter

* * *

Chapter 21: Confessions of the Pot Brownie Kind

Jim has decided that when he dies he wants to be cremated and no funeral. He also doesn't want his family together around him in some miserable state of hysterics. He is not sure how much more the insanity of an Iowa funeral he can take. He thought he was going to spend his evening playing with the kids or getting completely stoned using the rest of his mother's medical marijuana stash, instead he was being cried on by various neighbors and family members. It would be okay if they were close family like his nephews or Damien, but they were already resigned to Winona's death and were handling it very well (well, better than him). No, these were really distant family members that he is not even sure he has ever met before. These were the ones that claimed to be a cousin or something because he was the guy who saved Earth. Seriously, Jim has more third cousins than he even knew possible despite the Kirk family tradition of illegitimate children. (It was so common that if he didn't think of his father as a hero that would do nothing wrong, he would have required most of his hookups pre-Spock to get a DNA test before doing anything.)

He didn't actually mind the people who really knew him growing up, but he was getting a little sick of all the fake people. Said fake relatives and noisy neighbors were driving him crazy with phony condolences. These people knew of him only from what they saw on the net. 72 hours earlier they were probably gossiping about the supposed demise of his marriage because he was supposedly screwing around with Nyota.

It was worse the second day. That's when he had to deal with stepfather number four who actually had the audacity to show up with the girl he has been fucking around with since he left his mother. If it wasn't for Jim having his 18-month-old brother-in-law and his foster son with him he would have knocked the bastard out. Instead, he just smiled as his baby sister-in-law kicked him in the shin. Got to love baby Vulcan strength!

So really, it wasn't his fault that he sort of threw a brownie at his mom's cancer counselor. Things started out well when they were talking about the good old days of elementary school and the stupid things he used to do. The incident with the flagpole was the least of the embarrassing stories that were told. He let it continue because at least Sunk was enjoying it.

Things went to hell when she started asking him about how he was doing with his mother's death. He got defensive when she mentioned how much Winona wished he would've called. That was when Jim threw a brownie at her. Akia responded by kicking everyone out of the house, putting the kids to bed, and got out the 'good' brownies.

There are some great things about having a surrogate sister that is a doctor, such as she gets all the good drugs. Unfortunately she doesn't let you abuse them.

"You can have marijuana cheese crackers or regular brownies?" She asked Spock as she held up two bags. "I can't in good conscience let you mix your drugs." They were in Akia's office now that the kids were all asleep.

"I will stick with the cheese crackers." Spock said grabbing the bag from the table. Akia was shocked.

"I'm surprised you're letting us do this at all." Jim said as he took another bite of chemical goodness. Now he would never tell his children this but he may have did this a lot in college, the second time.

"There is nothing wrong with the medical use of marijuana. It has been perfectly legal for decades now. In this case it is being used to get you to calm the fuck down. You have been going from crying hysterics to raging anger and back again a lot over the last 48 hours. Considering that you threw a brownie at Winona's cancer counselor when she tried to talk to you I had to do something. With your allergies, marijuana is the safest thing to give you as long as you don't smoke it."

"It's not that big of a deal." Jim said defensively. "She wasn't even that mad. All she did was get you. Although I don't understand what Marissa meant by, 'if this is how he reacts to something small, I'd hate for him to find out the truth.' What could be worse than my mom keeping the fact that she was dying from me for a good four years?" Just as Jim says this Akia takes a really big bite of her own brownie. Jim is not 100% sure she is eating 'medicinal' brownies.

"What surprises me is that your husband is joining us." She said completely avoiding his question.

"Don't let that stuffed up Vulcan demeanor fool you. My husband is a wild one. He has had various piercings that he will never want his father to know about and has probably done more drugs than me. Let us not forget about the threesome that created our new babies." Of course, Jim leaves out the fact that most of those drugs were taken as part of various unity rituals.

"I've only engaged in a threesome under the influence of various substances. The majority of the drugs that I have done are technically not illegal in Vulcan culture. Cannabis is almost the equivalent of acetaminophen in my culture." Spock said in his own defense. Jim has the desire to laugh.

"Okay I think you had a brilliant idea. Spock just used a contraction outside of sex." His surrogate sister gave both a very dark look at that.

"I am not sure I want to know, although the piercing thing is interesting. I know about the eyebrow but what about the others"?

"Prince Albert," Jim said quickly. That caused her to choke and Spock to give him a very dirty look.

"Hey, it's the brownies. You know I do stupid things when I'm stoned." Jim said in his defense.

"Only when you're stoned?" Aika said mimicking his husband's trademark eyebrow thing. "What was your excuse this afternoon when you through a brownie at Winona's cancer counselor?"

"This is a stressful time. Not only am I dealing with my mother's death, I'm also dealing with losing my ship." Jim pouted at this.

"I still don't understand why you're so upset about that. Did you ever think that maybe a desk job would be good for you?" Akia asked poignantly. At this point, he is pretty sure she is eating virgin brownies. She's just being too logical to be stoned.

"Spock I can see. He's great at that sort of thing. He gets off on filing." That comment got Jim another irritated eyebrow raise. It's the one that means 'you're not getting any anytime soon'. "I despise paperwork and I hate sitting down in one place for more than five minutes at a time. I don't even like sitting on the bridge. I play video games during the really dull times."

"You got that from me and possibly your mother. She was very restless by nature. Trying to keep her occupied during the worst of the cancer drove me crazy." Aika said. "Despite that, you know that your mom considered spending the rest of her time on earth before you were born because she thought it would be best for your father and you." Jim knows that this is true. In the other dimension Winona Kirk was a stay-at-home mom who according to other Spock was bored out of her mind.

"But she didn't." Jim said with a little bit of resentment.

"Because your father died and somebody had to pay for your expensive private school tuition." She said this in a way that reminded him of how much the world changed because of one little thing. For example, according to a conversation that he had with other Spock yesterday his other self didn't have to worry about being forced into a desk job for almost another decade. (Although in both dimensions they hated it so maybe things are not that different). Unfortunately due to the command shortage created by the Nero incident the Admiralty has had the youngest medium age since there was a Federation Starfleet. He's going to be the youngest but only by about three years (and it is not Spock.)

"I don't want to talk more about that. You're bringing down the brownie buzz. I do want to know what's going on between you and a certain hot doctor." His sister-in-law almost choked on her next bit of brownie.

"Nothing, Marcus is just a friend." She said defensively in the same way Jim said that before he and Spock got together. The guy has been around way too much for Jim to believe that. He has definitely been her shoulder to cry on during everything.

"Bullshit!" He shouted. "No guy puts up with the insanity of the last two days unless he is getting some. I think that's the only reason Spock hasn't packed up the kiddies and run for the hills."

"I would not abandon you and your time of need despite the amount of sex involved. We have not engaged in sexual intercourse since we arrived on this planet and I have not left." Spock pointed out in his normal Vulcan way.

"Don't remind me. I can barely sleep in that room now, let alone think of doing anything dirty." Jim said with half a frown

"See Spock just invalidated your point."

"Spock is different. He has morels and he's only half human. That means he is less of a bastard by genetics."

"You're not going to give up on this?" She asked an annoyance.

"I need something to distract me from the grief of it all."

"Okay, maybe something happened at a few different out-of-town doctors conventions but nothing here. I don't have time for love or anything else. I don't have the energy for it. I am not even sure I believe in it anymore." Her words seem so sad.

"Did my brother really screw you over that much?" Jim asked sadly. He was so going to kick his ass when he got here.

"Yes, but that's not the only reason. Up until a week ago, I was taking care of four children and a very ill mother-in-law. I didn't have time for more."

"Now you just have four children one of which is in college and another in high school." Jim told her.

"Also, I have seen evidence that all of your children are quite fond of Dr. Iverson." Spock said using Marcus's last name and title because that was just the way his husband was. Spock has had sex with Ny multiple times and he still refers to her as Lieut. Cmdr. 90% of the time.

"You two are evil even when you're stoned. Okay, maybe it does have something to do with your brother being an asshole. But it's not just him. I've seen love screw people over too much. Your mother died because one of her husband's brought back a deadly STI because he couldn't keep his dick to himself. Every single one of them cheated except for Damien." This confused Jim. As far as he was concerned his parents had a pretty normal marriage and he was the love of her life. In other words his father didn't act like all the other Kirks and fuck around with everybody. From what he gathered from other Spock, the couple stayed married in the other dimension until Jim's father died in his 60s due to some mission mishap. But was it really like that? Kirk men did not have the best reputation for fidelity. Some would even say that he cheated on his husband but it doesn't count if your spouse is watching.

Was his parent's marriage really that perfect? He's not so sure. Why did his mother, who absolutely despises spending time at home, suddenly become homemaker of the year? His mom was a brilliant engineer. Jim knows that his genius level IQ comes from her. According to stories from Nana and her girlfriend Calista, she was really going places before she got pregnant with him. So why did she give that up? His mom was more like him than he would ever acknowledge. They would both leave everything behind for their children and their spouses. If Spock asked him he would give up Starfleet without even thinking about it. The only reason why he wasn't completely freaking out over being grounded was a part of him thought maybe it would be better to give his children more stability. His foster son obviously needed stability.

"Considering your reaction to the arrival of Winona's current husband, it is obvious that he did something that you found deeply offensive. I assumed that it was adultery?" Spock questioned before Jim could ask for clarification.

"You beat the hell out of him. Why did you do that?" Jim asked.

"Because the bastard is a John Edwards." She spat out angrily. Jim instantly got the reference. In the 23rd century John Edwards is the equivalent of Benedict Arnold when it comes to men who abandon their families when things go to hell, especially when cancer is involved. No one really remembers who John Edwards was they just know that's what you call a guy who abandons his family at the worst possible time for some floozy.

"So he abandoned his terminally ill wife for a campaign worker? I did not realize Mr. Johnson was into politics." Spock said taking the reference too literal. Of course, Spock would know the actual origins of the saying.

"It was a home healthcare worker but essentially it the same thing." Jim wasn't even shocked at all. "The only reason why he showed up today was to find out when the will reading is. He has no idea that Winona rewrote the entire thing after things fell apart." Considering he never liked the bastard, he was not surprised.

"Where did she find these guys? At least I believe in monogamy." He groused. Akia's response was to laugh.

"That's hilarious coming from the guy who got someone pregnant during a threesome." Akia quipped.

"As I keep saying, it doesn't count if your spouse is there at the time watching." Jim said in his defense before asking what he really wanted to know, or rather needed to know. "You said everybody but Damien screwed around on my mom but that's not right or am I missing something?"

"Jim maybe you should have another brownie." She said handing him another brownie most likely of the marijuana kind. That piece of avoidance told Jim more than her words ever would.

"He had an affair?" Jim asked even if in his heart he already knew the answer. Spock knows it too because he's squeezing Jim's hand in support.

"Your mom was married five times; you're going to have to be specific." She said in avoidance. Jim knew full well that she knew what he was talking about. Spock did.

"Did George Kirk have an affair during the time he was married to Jim's mom?" Spock asked for him because Jim is unable to get the words out.

"Yes." She said slowly after a very long pause. "It happened during her last assignment before the Kelvin incident. They were separated for a while and your father got lonely."

This wasn't the first time Jim has heard of something like this happening. More than once he has had a crew member crying on his shoulder after finding out that their significant other couldn't take the pressures of a long distance relationship and therefore resorted to infidelity. He lost his last helmsman because she left Enterprise and Starfleet in a last attempt to save her disintegrating marriage just two weeks ago.

"That's why she was planning on becoming a stay-at-home mom after I was born? She blamed her career for George's inability to keep his dick to himself." He said George because he couldn't bring himself to say dad at that moment.

"Pretty much," Akia said as she grabbed the brownie in the baggie and took it herself.

"Why the fuck did she not tell me?" Jim asked angrily. He's been asking that question a lot lately. Why did Winona Kirk keep so many secrets?

"She said she didn't want you to lose the positive image you had of your father." George Kirk was almost treated like a deity in their house when he was growing up. Nobody ever said a bad thing about him. Yet, he had no idea what type of man his father really was. He may never really know now.

"I am never going to be able to ask her about this." Jim finally said out loud.

"She wrote you a letter about it but she just couldn't give it to you." Akia said not looking at him. That just seems like such a Winona thing to do.

"Fuck!" Jim shouts angrily. "She always does this. She always keeps things from everyone to try to make them happy. I just don't understand it." By this point Spock was holding him. He was also sending soothing thoughts.

"That's your mother. She makes everyone else happy at the expense of her own happiness." Akia said raising a piece of brownie in the air as if to offer a toast.

"That should be in the eulogy." Jim remarked. He's starting to realize that statement pretty much sums up his mother's entire life.

"There's just one more thing I need to tell you. You may need another brownie for this."Akia said ominously. What could be worse than what he just found out?

* * *

**18 months earlier**

Winona has decided that the best thing about having cancer is that she could now use marijuana whenever she felt like it and nobody would say anything. She was currently drinking her marijuana laced tea with a pot brownie. Actually that seemed to be the only good thing about cancer. She threw up all the time despite the fact that wasn't supposed to happen anymore with modern chemotherapy. It doesn't surprise her because her hair was also falling out even if that wasn't supposed to happen either. She was constantly exhausted. She couldn't even play with her grandkids anymore. Her son (at the moment she's only claiming James because he's not a bastard) currently wasn't talking to her because she missed his wedding due to being too sick to go. Then again maybe he was pissed off at her for not going to see her new grandbaby. Maybe if he knew the truth he wouldn't be so mad at her but she just couldn't bring herself to tell him. It was better if he didn't know.

If Jim knew, she doubted he would stay in space. Jimmy was too much like her. She didn't want him to do that. It was better if he stayed where he would be the most happy.

Because she was desperate to live long enough to see her newest grandbabies get to kindergarten, she and her ex-husband decided that she should try some more homeopathic remedies. This week it was some weird tea brewed with cannabis like plants from far-off planets. Her daughter-in-law was spending all her time researching cancer treatments from various planets in and outside the Federation. It was a good distraction for her. She was adjusting to post-divorce life relatively well. She could almost hold a conversation with Sam now without threatening to surgically remove his genitalia.

She was currently sitting across from her drinking regular tea and eating a raspberry virgin brownie. She refused to eat the harder stuff despite the fact that the kids were at various sleepovers or in school.

The reason why they were doing this is because her daughter-in-law just found out that her now ex-husband was marrying the other woman and Winona's current husband just walked out on her. That bastard didn't want to deal with this. Apparently, he got tired of her throwing up all the time although he did say he would help her get back on speaking terms with her baby boy. Of course, she's not sure that she believed him. (Especially in light of the fact that she caught Mr. Johnson having his namesake sucked off by her home healthcare nurse.)

She learned long ago that she should not trust the man at all. He broke up her last marriage by convincing Winona that her husband was cheating on her. It turns out Damien was her only husband that never betrayed her. By the time she realized the truth it was too late and he no longer trusted her. She doesn't know why she married Charles except maybe she was too proud to acknowledge that she made a mistake. Although if this cancer doesn't kill her first she promised herself that she was never going to get married again.

Unfortunately, her not even 40 yet former daughter-in-law felt the same way despite the fact that a certain new Doctor seemed very interested in her.

"Just because my son is a bastard and took after his father and a few of the stepfathers doesn't mean that you should completely give up. I'm sure there will be somebody out there for you. I like Marcus. He seems nice. You should take him to Jake's place." She suggested. It would be nice for Akia to get out every once in a while. It's not like she's still breast-feeding. Winona is perfectly able to take care of a toddler for a few hours. She's not that sick yet.

"He's too young for me. He is barely out a med school and he graduated three years early. He is less than five years older than Landon. I'm done. Some people have soul mates but I don't." Again, there was so much bitterness there.

"You never know. Just promise me you won't give up because of your own insecurities." She told Akia with pleading eyes as she squeezed her hand. She loved this girl like the daughter she always wanted and didn't want her to suffer what she went through.

"What do you mean by that?" Akia asked.

"Looking back on it now I think I have only been in real love once."

"George?" Winona shook her head no and Akia dropped the brownie out of her hand in complete shock.

"I was 19 when I met George and I don't think I knew what love really was. I cared about him. I was attracted to him. I thought I would die without him. Now, over three decades later, I can see that what I thought at the time was real, wasn't. I'm sure you did the math and know the real reason why I married George when I did." She's probably only confessing to this stuff because of the drugs.

"I never believed the 10 pound preemie thing." She said with a laugh as she drank her tea.

"No one did."

"So if it was not George, who was the love of your life?"

"Damien," She said without hesitation. "He was the one who is always there for me, even now. But I was absolutely terrified I would get screwed over again. By that point I had already been cheated on three times. I was paranoid especially after finding my last husband giving has BFF a BJ. My mind just went to a bad place. Damien was suddenly spending all his time at the office and I was starting to think he was screwing around with his assistant. It happened once before. Then I had Charles whispering things in my ear trying to make me see what he wanted me to see. I didn't want to get left behind again so I left him before he could hurt me."

"In the end the only person you hurt was yourself."

"No, I hurt Damien too." She said in a whisper filled with regret. "I'm shocked he is even willing to treat me right now. Because of my own stupidity I am completely alone because the bastard was too weak to stay with me for this."

"On the bright side he didn't cheat on you." Akia told her. Winona laughed.

"Why do you think I asked you to get a med student to help out after I had to fire my last home healthcare nurse? I caught them in my bed or rather up against the wall. Apparently, he's partial to fellatio too." The only reason why she wasn't feeling especially furious was she was completely stoned.

"Fucking asshole."

"Which conclusively proves that every single guy I've been married to has cheated on me except Damien. However, that doesn't mean all guys are assholes. My youngest one managed to get a good one." Spock she absolutely adored. She has done pretty well in the in-law lottery. Even Aurelan is tolerable.

"George didn't cheat on you. Unless you count that he was more in love with Starfleet than anything else."Akia's words trailed off as she noticed the sad expression on Winona's face.

"There was someone else?"

"There was this girl. She was a young officer who was straight out of the Academy. She was kind of in love with my husband and they just happened to end up on the same ship together. Starfleet has always been family unfriendly but in those days tandem assignments were a privilege not a right. I was on assignment at a research facility for six months. I only took it because I was able to take Sam with me."

"I understand." Akia said with a sad smile.

"It gets lonely on assignment and did I mention that George forgot to tell the young girl in question that he was married."

"Fuck, it seems that George Junior was a really appropriate name. He did the same thing to Aurelan."

"Yes but unlike the girl in question, Aurelan didn't have the good sense to punch him in the balls and leave." Winona said with a smile.

"I'm starting to hate this woman a little less." Akia said smiling. "How did you find all this out? Did she approach you at the funeral or did you find old love letters when you were cleaning out his emails?" She frowned at those questions.

"I knew about it before he died. But I loved him or at least I thought so at the time, so I just pretended it didn't happen."

"But why? When you found out Frank was screwing around you kicked him out. When ex-husband number three got caught with his best friend, you left. Apparently, when Charles was screwing around with your nurse you kicked him out." Actually in the last case it was a bit more complicated. He had the audacity to blame her illness for his infidelity. He also said that he was planning on leaving her anyway because he was tired of watching her as she died.

"There were other reasons. George Junior was just a baby and I didn't want him to be without a father. Being a single mother in Starfleet is hard and the thought terrified me. Also before I found out about the infidelity I found out I was pregnant with Jim."

"Birth control failure?"

"Only if you count George going off the shot without telling me." She's pretty sure she heard her former daughter-in-law mumbles something along the lines of, "you definitely gave him the right name".

"But you lasted so easily before. You were my role model in this." She said with admiration in her voice that at that point she felt she did not deserve.

"I was not strong like you or at least that's what I thought at the time. You will be amazed what you can do once you have no choice. Then I thought that I couldn't leave him. I had convinced myself that it was my fault for not being the perfect stay-at-home mom. I somehow convinced myself it would be okay if I took on that role. If the Kelvin incident did not happen I would've retired when we got back." Winona told her as she finished her tea.

"That wasn't weak. You were trying to keep your family together. Part of me wishes I could do the same thing and maybe if Sam was willing to try to fix things I would've stayed but he doesn't love me. Deep, deep down I wonder if I ever loved him. I think once upon a time I did love him or at least a version of him. But we got married for the wrong reasons. By the end, we were just making everyone miserable. My children are actually happier now than before the divorce."

"Sometimes splitting up his for the best."

"Okay, so you obviously knew before George died, but how did you find out?" She was hoping that question would be avoided. She was planning on taking the answer to her grave, too bad it was going to come out eventually. Especially because Marissa was now her cancer counselor.

"We had the same gynecologist." That caused Akia to spit out her tea.

"He didn't give you a STI did he? That can be bad especially when you're pregnant." Of course, her daughter-in-law would go into Doctor mode.

"I kind I wished I did then maybe I would have been using condoms and wouldn't have cancer right now."

"Hindsight is 20/20." Akia remarked.

"I was just unbelievably happy that I was pregnant despite it being an accident. It was the worst possible time because of my next assignment but I really did not care. I just wanted another baby so badly."

"I can understand that, with baby number two, it happened during the first year of my residency. That's definitely the worst time to get pregnant."

"Well not everybody takes accidental pregnancies as well as we do. After the appointment, I walked into the bathroom to find this girl who was crying hysterically. Her name was Calista. I handed her a tissue and she thanked me. I asked her what was wrong and she told me the whole story about her falling for her commanding officer and sleeping with him before finding out that he was married. Calista left him as soon as she found out in a way that would have got her court-martialed under any other circumstances. She was currently crying hysterically because she was pregnant with his child. She was absolutely terrified."

"I understand, I did the same thing when I found out I was pregnant with Landon. What happened after that?" Akia asked.

"I gave her my email just so we could write to each other. We wrote to each other a lot when I was on board the ship. We really started to become really good friends. It wasn't until December that I found out the identity of the guy who got her pregnant. I'm surprised I didn't go into early labor then it was such a shock."

"What did George say when you confronted him?" Aika asked.

"I didn't. I was in complete denial. I just thought if I went back to Iowa and I was the perfect housewife everything would be okay. Of course, I'll never know now." She said sadly.

"Did Sam know about this? We were married for almost 2 decades and I never heard about anything like this." Winona took a deep breath before answering, deciding that she wasn't going to die with the secret after all.

"Her name is Marissa and she is my cancer counselor. She was adopted by her uncle and his husband, so she could have a somewhat normal life. She also went to elementary school with Jim. Jim and Sam have no idea who she is."

"Why didn't you tell them?" Akia asked in anger. "What would happen if they brought Marissa home? Thankfully my youngest son is gay or at the very least a pansexual guy who is horrible with women and my other son has always been into older women." Winona joked.

"That still doesn't answer why?" Akia asked again and Winona felt she had no choice but to answer.

"Because George is dead and all they have left are the stories I told the boys. He died so that I could live. The least I could do was forgive him. I wanted the boys to think of their father as a hero not as the bastard who cheated on me. I couldn't ruin that." She said on the verge of tears.

"Even with the truth?"

"Not even for that."

* * *

**The Present**

Even under vast quantities of a drug designed to 'mellow' Jim's reaction to the fact that he had a half-sister was to destroy Akia's office. They will be replacing her coffee table tomorrow. Also most of the decorations in the room they were staying in will also need to be replaced. The comforter was currently ripped to shreds and the curtains were pulled down. Jim also got rid of every single piece of male clothing in Winona's closet. Spock just watched helplessly as his husband reacted violently, uncertain of the best course. Now James was currently going through various dresser drawers.

"What are you trying to find?" Spock asked his husband.

"That damn letter that Akia mentioned. Why the fuck did she never tell me? Why did she keep everything from me?" Jim asked as he kept looking.

"Because she wanted to protect you." Spock said simply.

"Well I don't feel very protective right now. My mom was dying and she didn't tell me. My father was an asshole who left 3 children behind, that we know of, because he decided to go out in a blaze of glory. If I find out that I accidentally slept with a half sibling I'm going to go back in time and kill him. Oh God, I hope I never slept with a sibling." Jim said in a panic as he simultaneously yawned. At that point Spock was happy that Jim was tiring under the influence. He was already starting to get groggy and therefore slowing down in the destruction of the room.

"That is what you are focusing on?" Spock asked with one eyebrow raised.

"It is serious. Incest is very creepy." Jim said with a shiver.

"Unless you engaged in sexual relations with Marissa there is nothing for you to worry about." Spock said quietly.

"No, I always saw her as a big sister even if she was only three weeks older than me. I guess I always knew subconsciously that there was something going on. We have the same eyes." Jim said as he stared at the mirror for a moment before going back to rummaging through Winona's personal possessions.

"I didn't notice that." Spock said honestly.

"That's because I had the color changed. Also I'm going to have to get you high more often. You're still using contractions." Jim said as he pulled out a letter that had his name on it. Of course, he didn't read it. He just went back to the bed before handing it to Spock.

"Do you want to read that?" Spock asked

"Not right now. I'm too mad at her. Why did she leave me to find out like this? Anything she wrote in that letter would be better than finding out the way I did. Actually Winona should've told me herself." Jim said angrily as he used his mother's given name.

"I can't explain her reasoning for doing so." Spock said as he sat next to his husband and pulled him into his embrace.

"They were bullshit reasons whatever they were. I've heard rumors about my dad. I mean you can only hear your professors say your 'a chip off the old block,' due to my 'lady-killer' reputation, with a wink so many times before you start to get suspicious."

"Why would they assume that you were heterosexual?"

"Because most people look at me and see my father not me. Because my mom never said anything about him being a not so good person; therefore, I never believed any of it. There was even a rumor that my dad hooked up with Calista but I never got to ask her because she died protecting me on that planet we don't talk about. I thought it was just, you know, the same stuff they do to you and me. Everything they say is a complete fabrication, so why should this time be any different? Except it was true, not only did he cheat on my mother he made her feel like it was her fault, fucking bastard." Jim yelled at the wall.

"You did not expect to discover this therefore you are disappointed in your father."

"I don't know what I am. I've been living with this perfect ghost of George Kirk for so long that I'm not sure how to deal with reality. I don't think finding out a different way would soften the blow. She should've told me. I would have found out eventually. I mean your older half is really good at accidentally saying the wrong thing. I'm surprised he hasn't asked me how my sister was doing yet?" Spock wondered the same thing after the incident that occurred at their wedding involving Akia finding out that her husband married his mistress in the other dimension. He was appalled that his other self kept disclosing such information.

"He may not know." Spock suggested.

"What time is it on Vulcan?" Jim said as he got up from the bed.

"Considering that the entire planet was pulled into a black hole, I am not sure." Spock answered facetiously.

"Okay it's obvious you are really stoned because you're using sarcasm and contractions. You know what I mean you big Vulcan bastard." Jim chastised him.

"What are your opinions of fellatio in the bathroom?" Spock said as a means of distraction. Sex maybe the only thing that can possibly distract James from the current situation.

"Please use smaller words when I eat fun brownies. The drugs make me not actually care that we're having sex in my dead mother's house."

"I would not be averse to sexual activities now." Spock said as he tried to kiss his husband but he was prevented by Jim's movement.

"Why did she not tell me that my dad was a bastard?" Jim asked again.

"You already asked that question." Spock said trying to kiss his husband again.

"You didn't answer it." James said in annoyance.

"I'm not sure how to answer that question. However, I am sure the answer will most likely be in the letter." Spock said in an attempt to get his husband to read what his mother wrote.

"Don't want to read it. Can I have a blowjob now? Or ice cream. Can I have a blowjob with ice cream?" Jim said rambling.

"Whatever you want Jim." Spock said with a sigh realizing it was going to be a very long night.

* * *

After vast amounts of various sexual activities that most likely only occurred because they were both under the influence Spock sat down to read the letters. One was addressed to James and Spock found a second one addressed to Sam. He started with the letter to Sam.

* * *

_Dear Sam_

_I'm not sure how to start this letter except to say that I'm still very disappointed in you. Your selfish actions hurt your wife and your children. If I wasn't dying I probably would not be able to forgive you. But facing certain death makes you change your priorities. I hope that my passing will do some good and you will realize the mistake that you made so you won't do the same things with your second family. If that doesn't make you see where you went wrong nothing will. _

_Then again if that doesn't work maybe my will actually will. Everything that would have went to you I'm giving to your children including the brand-new one that isn't even born yet. Just because his mother didn't punch you in the balls after she found out what you did, doesn't mean that he should be punished. Children are innocent of the actions of the father. I can't__ take my anger out on innocent children who did nothing wrong. Almost everything will go to my grandkids. Although, I left a few pieces of property for James and case he decides that maybe raising kids in space is not the best._

_I also recently used some of the money from what I referred to as the Kelvin blood money trust to save Jake's place from foreclosure. My share in the restaurant will be going to __Marissa__ who you may know as my cancer counselor. You may say that she's not entitled to that but she is because she is George's daughter and therefore she deserves that money as much as anyone else._

_I will spare you the details but what your father did to me wasn't that different than what you did to Akia. The only difference is you had the balls to break up your marriage before you got the other one pregnant. Part of me wishes that I did tell you about this because maybe if you knew you wouldn't__ have repeated history. They say that those that do not learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them. Maybe the same can be said of those that are ignorant of their past._

_Despite my anger, I do love you. I'm sure you're furious at me right now but I'm dead so what do I care. I made a lot of mistakes. I did a lot of things I wish I did not. There are two things that I did in this life that I don't regret. Having your brother despite everything was one. The other was having you. _

* * *

The letter must be quite recent. Sam only recently revealed that Aurelan was pregnant. Jim's angry rant about said pregnancy only occurred a few days before the incident that produced their new children. Spock agreed with Winona's comments about if you were unaware of the past you will repeat it. Spock quickly folded the letter back wondering if he should even give it to Sam. Then he thought about how he would want any piece of correspondence from Amanda regardless of the content.

The second letter was not handwritten despite the name on the envelope being handwritten. As he began to read the first few lines he realized why it was not like the first letter. She probably didn't have the energy. At most this letter can only be a few days old.

* * *

_Dear baby Jimmy:_

_If you're reading this letter then Chris' attempt to get you to come visit me has failed miserably and I'm already dead. I'm trying to hold on for you. I called you last night but you wouldn't come to the COM system._

_Maybe I should've__ told you why I wasn't going to your wedding instead I let you believe the worst of me. __It's always easier for me to let you hate me then for me to break your illusions._

_You probably already know that I'm__ dying or by this point actually dead because of a certain ex-husband who can't keep his zipper up. My money is on Frank. Unfortunately, his little STI problem __was caught early because he caught something else from someone else. _

_Promise me you will throw something at him for me or at the very least have your husband nerve pinch the hell out of him if he actually shows up to the funeral._

_Since these are my deathbed confessions I guess I should probably start with why I didn't tell you I was sick and why I didn't come to your wedding. However, you know all about that by now. I guess I should start with the one I have been keeping from you the longest. I was away a lot after Sam was born doing all sorts of crazy assignments. Your dad wasn't happy and he slept with someone else. She got pregnant but your dad never knew about it. I found out totally by accident. _

_I never told you because I wanted you and Sam to have good memories of your father. He did die so that we could live. That means that he wasn't a total bastard. Despite what he did I know he loved us. They say that the wage sin pays is death. He has paid for it._

_I know you're mad at me. As I told your brother, I am not going to know because I'm dead. However, never forget that I love you._

* * *

Spock carefully folded the letter back into the envelope, promising himself that he would make Jim read it in the morning.

To be continued


	22. The Paparazzi Are Going to Love This

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Your reviews, PMs, and even alert notices keep me writing. So this is now officially the oldest story I have after completing _Dear Spock_ and _But I Thought They Hated Each Other_. Everything else is brand-new including the sequel to _You Don't Have To Be My Boyfriend_ called _The Truth About Love_. So please check my profile for all sorts of new goodies.

I am purposely not allowing myself to do more than five stories at a time to help guarantee that everything gets updated at least once a month. My goal now is to finish the story by May 15. We are starting to get towards the end of this story and I think I could wrap it up in about eight chapters. So give me a reason to set my alarm for 5 AM so I will work on my stories before work every morning.

* * *

**Chapter 22: The Paparazzi Are Going to Love This**

"Thank God you're here." Jim said when he wrapped his arms around his daughter and best friend Nyota. Outside of a few missions that went horribly wrong, this was the longest he has been away from his baby girl since she was born. Unfortunately, said almost 4-year-old was wrapped in Nyota's arms asleep.

"Should you really be carrying an almost 4-year-old? I thought Bones was supposed to be around to keep you from over exerting yourself." He said taking the sleeping girl from her mom.

"He's getting the luggage." Nyota said pointing to Bones carrying two standard issue Starfleet bags and Amanda's sparkly pretty Princess Barbie bag that Spock just had to get his little girl. Bones was also dragging around a gigantic 'vampire teddy bear' that was probably bigger than her. Jim had a good feeling that came from Sarek. His father-in-law was a big softy underneath the Vulcan bravado.

In between funeral plans and finding out that his father was a total asshole, he had spent a lot of time talking to his baby sister-in-law (in between snowball fights) and has discovered that his father-in-law really does love his kids and spoils all of them. She told Jim stories about Sarek taking care of her when she was sick or reading her bedtime stories. Apparently, her jealousy over Amanda was related to her dad spending too much time with his granddaughter in her opinion. He's going to have to stop at the toy store to get those dolls of the world for his sister-in-law if he wants to avoid an adolescent Vulcan tantrum. Of course, these conversations took place because he was trying to keep the five-year-old from sulking about her parents' special type of marriage.

Sunk was around for most of these conversations. It was good for him to know that not all Vulcan parents were like his mom and that he had a foster grandfather that really did care about him.

"Yes, I had no choice but to carry her because this little one fell asleep on the shuttle down here." Nyota said pointing to the sleeping girl.

"You had to take a shuttle?" He asked as they started walking towards the car.

"Yes, I'm not allowed to beam until after I give birth. That was another factor in my 'grounding'. Apparently my medical condition prevents me from doing a major function of my job." You could hear the bitterness in Nyota's tone.

"I thought you could still do that until the eighth-month." As a Starfleet captain who has to deal with crewmembers that get pregnant in space, he knows the rules about beaming and pregnancy better than most people.

"Normally yes, but this is a high-risk never happened before pregnancy." Bones said giving his expert medical opinion.

"I know you hate being grounded but is it wrong that I'm kind of happy that you'll be safely on earth?" Again, being a Starfleet captain who has had to deal with pregnant crewmembers on occasion, he knows everything that can go wrong with a pregnancy on a starship (Like having to deliver in an emergency escape pod 2 1/2 months early). Do not get Jim wrong, he is going to hate missing this pregnancy but he just wants the babies to get here safely in one piece.

"Yeah, well past experience has shown us that Earth is not always the safest place." Nyota said referring to that mission they don't talk about.

"That's why I'm here, to save you from the criminally insane." Bones said grinning. If he wasn't dealing with the giant teddy bear Jim wondered if he would finally kiss Nyota, on the cheek at least. Jim hoped that maybe their time on the colony alone would help the two most stubborn people in the galaxy finally get together.

"You mean Jim's family?" Nyota asked, Jim frowned. He was trying to repress the last two days. When he woke up the day before to Spock's very 'special wakeup call', he was confronted with his mother's confession. Spock made him read it. When he says made, he means that his husband got him all worked up and then refused to finish him off until he read his mom's words. Fortunately, reading the letter took care of the problem without Spock's expert mouth. However, he did get another 'special' brownie and a snowball fight. Now that he was completely sober, he really did not want to talk about his completely deranged family.

"Please don't mention the F word." He said as they finally made it to the parking lot. Normally, Jim would have brought his restored vintage convertible that is the same model as the one that went off the cliff when he was Eight years old. However, he was in overprotective dad mode and felt that Akia's gigantic SUV was better.

"What happened? Your asshole brother wasn't involved, was he?" Bones asked knowing him way too well.

"No it was my asshole father and my mother who wanted to give us a saint for a dead daddy then a actual human being with flaws and all. Apparently, George Kirk had a lot of flaws including the fact that he couldn't keep it in his pants." Jim was still bitter but he tried to keep his voice low as not to disturb his daughter.

"Okay, you're calling George a word that would make you put about 20 credits in the swear jar if baby girl was actually conscious. What did you find out?" Nyota asked putting an arm around him. He needed the physical comfort but Jim sincerely hoped that the paparazzi were not around.

"It looks like baby girl has an aunt, that's actually old enough to be her aunt, and my father couldn't keep his dick to himself." He said opening the doors to the car and placing his daughter inside.

"What?" Both Nyota and Bones asked simultaneously. If he wasn't so angry about his father, he would laugh at how in tune they were with each other.

"It's a complicated thing but I will keep this simple." Jim said as he helped Nyota in to the back seat. "Back in the days where tandem assignments were a luxury, not a right, my parents got split up. My mom took some lab assignment on a Starbase where she could take Sam with her. George was on a ship far away and decided to screw around with a communications officer who was straight out of the academy. Me and my big sister exist because George went off his birth control shot and didn't tell anybody. My mom accidentally uncovered the entire sordid affair about a month before I was born due to the limited number of gynecologists in Starfleet and her being a very nice person. Due to being completely shell-shocked, she kept the secret to herself. Actually, she blamed herself and was going to become Suzy homemaker in an effort to keep George happy. Even George had no clue that his dirty deeds resulted in living evidence. I can't even hate him because he died for me." Jim said as he fastened his seatbelt.

That's what made him the maddest about the whole thing was that he couldn't hate his dad. How can you hate someone that gave up everything for you? His dad made a mistake but Jim still loved him. Maybe it would have been better if he knew who his father was from the beginning. He was tired of the fantasy version of the man that everybody presented him with.

"You can hate the girl that seduced a married man." Nyota suggested as she fastened her seatbelt.

"Not an option." Jim said sadly. "Not only did she break it off as soon as she found out he was a married man, she also save my life on that planet that we don't talk about." He couldn't hate the woman who was there for him through most of his childhood. She helped take care of him when Winona was dealing with her issues.

"There are a lot of things we don't talk about." Bones joked as Jim started to drive.

"Is the sister going to be another one?" Nyota asked cautiously.

"I wish. We are going to lunch with her. She's a cancer/grief counselor. Before you say anything, I can't hate her either." Jim said holding up a hand.

"Why?" Nyota asked.

"It isn't her fault that George went off the shot. Her name is Marissa. She's nice. We went to grade school together and her dads were my mentors growing up. I can't automatically hate her." Jim explained.

"Good point." Nyota said after a moment.

"Besides it would be nice to have one family member who is not a complete moron." Bones joked.

"I'm trying to forget about Sam. I'm going to have to deal with him this afternoon too." Jim said with a sigh. He hasn't really talked with his brother for more than a few minutes at a time since his wedding. Their relationship was complicated. Jim loves his brother but he also wants to punch him out at the same time. Then again, sometimes he feels that way about his husband, so it makes sense.

"Does your brother know yet?" Nyota asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure but I'm going with no. I told Spock not to say anything." Jim said with a frown. He has been avoiding Akia since he realized that he was a complete ass for destroying her office. Therefore, he wasn't able to ask if she had time to traumatize her ex-husband yet.

"Spock is picking him up from Iowa city." It was decided that Vulcan cool would be required for the ride from Iowa city to Riverside. Basically between those that could drive, Spock was the one least likely to try to kill Sam.

"You're making your husband do the dirty work?" Bones asked raising an eyebrow.

"Trust me he was rewarded handsomely." Jim said referring to what happened in the convertible in the garage this morning. It turns out there was enough space to have actual sex in the back seat.

"What did you give daddy?" A sleepy Amanda asked. Oh god, how much did she hear? They should have known that she was faking. She is a crafty one.

"A cookie." Jim said quickly as his best friends laughed at him. That embarrassing incident at his father-in-law's house told him that his daughter knew more about sex then a four-year-old should but he wants to keep her sweet and innocent for as long as he can.

"Or something that rhymes with it." Bones mumbled between snickers.

"Daddy likes cookies." Amanda said smiling.

"Yes, he does." Nyota said between giggles. "You're going to owe him a lot of 'cookies' for dealing with your brother."

"Spock will get lots of 'cookies' for dealing with this entire mess." He said with a smirk wondering if he can get away with the thing in the car again. "A lesser man would have got the hell out of here."

"You said the H word." Amanda said sleepily as his friends continue to laugh. He was so going to get back at the two and his little girl was going to help.

"I'll transfer the money to your Swear jar account later. Hey baby girl did your Uncle Bones take good care of you guys on Vulcan?" Jim asked his father also sweetly.

"Yes. Mommy Ny should give him a cookie too." Nyota's response was to call him a certain piece of anatomy in Klingon. Bones just choked. Yes, Bones definitely wanted Nyota's 'cookie'.

* * *

Spock waited impatiently in the Iowa City commercial spaceport, wondering exactly how his husband talked him into picking up his brother. Spock was sure that it involved copious amounts of sex once they both discovered that James had no trouble engaging in sexual activities in the garage. Also, Spock may feel slightly guilty for forcing James to read his mother's final letter the day before.

James cried for half an hour before his therapeutic brownie began to work. Spock was beginning to wonder if they were going to have to keep his husband 'stoned' until the funeral. Spock was not sure that was a good thing.

Before spending the afternoon with the children in an effort to completely avoid his sister-in-law, James contacted other Spock to ask about his sister. However, he was still under the influence during said call. Thankfully, the children were touring Akia's lab when James was finally brave enough to ask Spock's other self if he "slept" with Nyota in the other dimension.

Spock was unsure if he was happy or disappointed that other Spock answered that question with a yes. Jim followed up with asking about a 'threesome' which again was actually answered in the affirmative. Spock was tempted to have one of the 'special' brownies at that point.

During that conversation, other Spock confirmed that James did not know about his sister in the other dimension. His other self only learned of her existence because she was his appointed grief counselor after he "Lost somebody very close to me during a mission." Spock could understand his other self's real meaning in those words. He was seeing the grief counselor due to James' unexpected death.

It was the only thing that made sense to Spock. He would never seek professional counseling for any other reason. He resisted seeing the ship psychologist during the months after his mother's death. Losing James is the only thing that would necessitate something like that in his mind.

Of course, Spock would not ask his other self about this directly. He could not. Intellectually he knew that James could not still be alive at the time his other self came to this dimension, yet he did not want to know specifics. Spock could never handle such a thing. As they finished up arrangements for Winona, Spock wondered what it would be like when he had to make plans for James. Spock is not sure if he could even if James died at 140.

Spock was brought out of his musings by the appearance of James's brother and new wife. She was heavily pregnant. They thought she was only five months along but she seems almost as big as Nyota was during her eighth and final month of pregnancy with young Amanda.

"Where's baby Jimmy?" Sam asked using the nickname James despised when he saw that his husband was not with him.

"He is picking up Commander Uhura, Dr. McCoy, and our daughter from the Riverside facility." Spock answered quickly as he started to carry the bag his sister-in-law was struggling with.

"Must be nice to be able to pull your weight around so your mistress and your child don't have to take Interplanetary Greyhound." Spock could hear the bitterness in the man's voice. Spock was also offended by his reference to the commander as James' Mistress.

"The commander is not James' Mistress. She is a friend of ours and is our daughter's mother. She has made great personal sacrifices so that she may help us with our dream to have a family. She does not deserve your contempt." Spock said in Nyota's defense. He despised people who made such jealous assumptions about her. They did not know her.

"No, she is his mistress or maybe concubine is a more appropriate term. Is it some weird thing in your culture to have an extra person laying around? It's okay for James to sleep around but I am the bad guy leaving a woman I didn't love for someone I actually do."

Spock now understands why he was elected to make this trip. He may be the only one in the family who can arrive back at Riverside with Sam and his wife, without resorting to physical violence. Both James and Akia would have rendered the man unconscious by now. Of course, at this point there is a 34.5% probability that he will render his brother-in-law unconscious before arriving at the hotel. He does not tolerate those that show such blatant disrespect.

"We do not condemn you for leaving Akia. Even she believes this is for the best and her partner Marcus seems much more agreeable with her." Sam tried to interrupt at that moment but he was kicked in the shin by his wife.

"We are offended by the fact that you engaged in a sexual relationship with someone else before terminating your marriage to Akia. You also used lies to coerce this person into these actions. James has never engaged in such behaviors despite what the tabloids have said to the contrary."

"That's not what the _Interplanetary Enquirer_ said. Apparently no test tubes were required for your new set of babies." The probability of Spock physically assaulting his brother-in-law was now at 62.1%

"To use a colloquialism that you will be able to understand, the _I__nterplanetary Enquirer _is 'full of shit'. What methods we decide to employ to create our children are no concern to you. You do not know your brother or me. You have no right to judge him." Spock said keeping his voice as neutral as possible. He had the very real desire to actually yell at the man in front of him.

"That goes both ways. I think I'm going to need a coffee before we drive to Riverside. I'll be back in a minute." Sam said leaving the two alone in the terminal without a backwards glance. Spock knew the man was going to the Starbucks but he doubted it was for coffee. He believed the location here had a wine bar.

"I'm sorry Spock. He's not handling his mom's death very well. They haven't really talked since the divorce and he's been taking it out on everyone." She said sadly. "He didn't know that she was sick. It was a bit of a shock." Personally, Spock did not believe her excuses. Sam behaved similarly at the wedding ceremony nearly 4 years earlier.

"James was also unaware of her illness until her passing. Apparently, she did not tell him because Winona did not want him to leave Starfleet to take care of her. His reaction has not been optimal." Again, Spock wondered how much more marijuana James would have to consume to stay somewhat calm.

"Sam punched out a wall." That reaction does not surprise Spock at all. He is Jim's brother after all.

"James destroyed Aika's office and Winona's former bedroom. Aika has been feeding him marijuana laced brownies for the last 48 hours in an effort to keep him calm." Of course, Spock left off the real reason for such measures. Akia and Marissa decided that they would tell Sam together. That was decided in a call yesterday. However, Spock wondered if maybe he should warn Aurelan now.

"I knew I liked her for a reason. If I didn't accidentally steal her husband we may have been friends." Her words seem sad. "Do you think she would do the same thing for Sam? We may need to start feeding Sam the special brownies. I didn't think I would have to deal with this sort of thing being eight months pregnant." Being extremely familiar with all regulations involving pregnant women and space travel, he knew most women were not allowed to travel commercial this way so late in the pregnancy. It was in that moment Spock decided that it was best to warn Sam's wife about what was to come.

"How long do you think Sam will be?" Spock asked.

"Considering Starbucks doesn't allow you to get a to go cup for the wine bar, it could be a little while. Maybe if he slightly drunk we can get to the Riverside Holiday Inn without him saying something that will result in you knocking him unconscious."

"I am uncertain of the probability of that." Spock mumbled under breath. There was now an 84.2% chance that he will attack his brother-in-law.

"Winona wrote letters to both Sam and James. I think it is best that you read what she wrote before I give the letter to Sam." Spock said just before passing her the letter. Her mouth open wide in shock at the words on the page.

"Fuck!"

* * *

Jim truly hated his two best friends for leaving him out to dry at this very dysfunctional family lunch. After the cookie thing, Nyota actually tossed her cookies all over the back of the SUV resulting in the need for a quick carwash where he was mobbed by a bunch of people who wanted his autograph and possibly a guy he once slept with. That was not good.

Afterwards, Bones decided that it would be too stressful for Nyota to be at a very fucked up family lunch, especially after such a long trip. Jim reluctantly agreed with him because even if Sam did not find out about Marissa, just being around his kids and ex-wife would make things awkward or explosive. Landon usually refers to Sam as the sperm donor. Also, Landon thought it would be a very good idea to invite Marcus to this disaster waiting to happen. Jim just hoped nobody got arrested but that's probably asking for too much.

Bones just had to stay behind to take care of Nyota, instead of being a good friend. Okay, Jim was 100% sure Bones has figured out that he's head over heels in love with Nyota. Jim decided it was time to give him the best friend official seal of approval.

"I wouldn't find it that creepy if you had sex with Ny when she's pregnant with my kids." Jim told bones as he was trying to find T'Mandy's dress shoes. Bones choked on his coffee. Jim then proceeded to embarrass the hell out of the good Doctor by asking Akia if sex was a possibility right now.

She responded with, "Not right now but a good old-fashioned make out session would be okay. I'm concerned about her high blood pressure, although certain activities may be good for her stress level. You're a doctor, just make sure she doesn't overexert herself." At that point, Bones could be mistaken for a tomato. Also, Landon and his girlfriend could be heard snickering in the back.

"See, you have the Doctor Kirk seal of approval to do something. However, if you hurt her- you remember what happened to Mister Scott." Jim said cryptically.

"Yeah, I'm still not sure if it was you or your husband who beat the hell out of him. She's a friend, I'm not going to do what you suggested." Bones said in his defense which caused Akia to start snickering uncontrollably.

"That you are in love with. Somebody's protesting just a little too much." Jim said laughing.

"I'm not -oh hell-you already know." Bones said getting up. Jim just knew the man to well after nearly 12 years of friendship.

"Considering you're staying with her until the babies are born, it was pretty obvious. I know you better then you know yourself. Does she know?" Jim asked in a whisper.

"No. She doesn't see me that way." Jim was biting his lip not to laugh. Now maybe it's because of their weird 'relationship' but Jim knows when Ny was in to somebody and she was into everybody's favorite grumpy doctor. Plus, in Jim's opinion Bones was the only suitable candidate for Nyota's heart. He didn't want anybody else to be stepfather to his kids.

"God you two are hopeless." Jim heard his former sister-in-law say from the back as she snickered.

"Yes they are. You see what I have to deal with. Can I have another brownie?" Jim asked ever so sweetly.

"No. If you behave, you can have one for the funeral tomorrow. I think you need to be sober to tell Sam about Marissa." They agreed earlier they would tell Sam after lunch but before the will reading. After reading the letter to Sam, under Spock's version of duress, Jim had a pretty good idea what was going to happen and it would be best to prepare his brother a little bit.

The conversation ended abruptly when Amanda came downstairs wearing a pair of Akia's purple heals and Nyota's dress uniform. She was also covered in lipstick. However, the fact that his baby sister-in-law came down wearing purple lipstick, a pair of his shoes, and Spock's dress uniform top required him to break out the camera. He wonders if his father-in-law would find these images hilarious or mortifying.

Spock found it funny. Jim received an additional text message 35 minutes ago telling him that his brother was safely there and currently getting sauced at the Starbucks wine bar at the Iowa City spaceport. Spock also said that he warned Aurelan about what was to come. She said that his reaction was not going to be good and she would prefer to be in another state when he found out. Jim had a feeling that all was not well in paradise. Then again how stable can a relationship be when it begins with a pretty big lie.

* * *

Now that the children were all dressed properly and no longer covered in strange makeup they were making their way into the special dining room at what will forever be known as Jake's Place in Jim's mind. Marissa walked in with a guy that Jim sort of remembered from high school and a little girl who reminded him of Gaila. The girl was obviously Orion. She looked familiar.

Jim was currently standing in the main dining room with Amanda clinging to his leg and baby Sonick sleeping on him. Like his big brother, the baby found him the perfect pillow.

"I'm glad you agreed to lunch today." She said giving him a hug. Oddly enough it didn't feel awkward. Maybe on some level Jim always knew that this woman was his sister.

"Well I liked you before I found out that George was a moron, so I figured we should get to know each other again." Jim said shrugging.

"What did your husband have to do to convince you of that?" Marissa asked.

"I think daddy gave him a cookie." Marissa laughed at Amanda's very innocent reply.

"Actually, it was a brownie." Jim joked referring to the vast amounts of special brownies that he has been consuming to keep him relatively calm. He really wished he could have one right now.

"One of Winona's brownies?" She asked as she said brownie making finger quotes.

"You know me so well." Jim said with a smirk. Maybe, just maybe, he might have a sibling that he can actually tolerate.

"So who's the lovely lady clinging to your legs as well as the sleeping child in your arms?" Marissa asked.

"This young man is my brother-in-law, Sonick. He was sleeping during the insanity two days ago. Also, too many people make him twitchy. The girl clinging on to me is my daughter Amanda. She just arrived this morning with her mom Nyota. Just so you know, everything about that relationship in the _Interplanetary__ Enquirer_ is not true. She is Amanda's birth mom but we have a really unique relationship. I think you met my foster son and Spock's sister two days ago." Maybe when he is 100% sure Marissa will not go to the tabloids he will explain everything but not right now. Then again he wasn't planning on telling Sam everything, so she probably would not be offended.

"I'm sure you are referring to the young Vulcan girl following you around like a lost puppy." Marissa said with a smile.

"I am irresistible to the entire family." He said with a smirk.

"I guess it's my turn for the family introductions. I think you remember Daniel from high school. He said you guys were in most of the same classes. He works for the firm that helps design starships like your baby Enterprise. He's my long-term boyfriend who my dad is still not happy about mostly because we're not married yet." Only her mom's biological brother was still alive. Her other father died of colon cancer about six years ago, according to Akia. That's how she got into her current line of work. Jim remembered that from two days ago before everything got too heavy.

"You can talk to my husband later about fathers that do not approve. He drew the short straw and is bringing Sam from Iowa City. Who is this young lady?" Jim asked.

"You don't remember me? You rescued me from a slave ship when I was really little. Although, my name is Calista now." The girl said in disappointment.

Now he remembered the girl. About seven years ago, Enterprise intercepted a slave ship filled with prisoners from various planets. One of those on board was a three-year-old Orion girl.

"Now I remember who you are. So Marissa is .." Jim started not sure how to ask that politely.

"I'm her mother. I thought it was right for me to pay it forward. Sweetie, why don't you go play with the other kids." She said turning to little Calista.

"I can take the sleeping one." Daniel offered extending his hands.

"Just be careful not to touch bear skin. He's not old enough to shield yet." Jim said gently handing over his sleeping brother-in-law.

"We have been foster parents to a lot of special kids including a few Vulcans after what happened. That's actually why we became foster parents to special needs children." Jim is pretty sure special-needs was code for non-human children. "Daniel knows what he's doing." Marissa reassured him.

"So you two have done this a lot?"

"35 kids from seven different planets over the last nine years. When Calista came to live with us, I decided that it was finally time for me to settle down and adopt a child myself. Although, we are still active foster parents." This makes Jim smile. Maybe his dad did something right and he got a good sibling out of this mess.

"That's good to know, I may be calling you to help with Sunk."

"His mommy was really mean to him and now he lives with us. He is my new big brother. Daddy said that you're his new sister." Before Jim or Marissa could answer Amanda, Sam just happened to walk through the door at that moment.

"What do you mean sister?" Sam yelled. Jim responded by telling Spock mentally to just give Sam the letter.

His response was to rip up the letter and start yelling at everybody including his long-suffering wife who was crying. Apparently, he couldn't accept that George was a sinner like the rest of them. He actually accused their mother of making the whole thing up. This caused Akia to come out of the special dining room to scream at her ex-husband and show him the DNA test. He didn't believe that either. His response was to start screaming at both her and his current wife.

This resulted in Akia actually smacking him upside the head before screaming at him for making his eight month pregnant wife travel all the way back to earth in less than appropriate accommodations for a woman who is that far along. Sam said some things that caused Marcus to give Sam a black eye. Akia then promptly left with Marcus and Aurelan. Apparently, she felt it was her duty as a doctor to make sure her children's half sibling was all right in spite of her ex-husband's stupidity.

That's when Landon started attacking his father. Marissa quickly got the small children out-of-the-way and took them next door to the Happy Arcade. Jim was able to successfully pull his nephew off of his brother but only after Spock had to administer a nerve pinch on Sam. At that point, Jim sincerely hoped that none of this would end up on the net tomorrow but he doubted it. He should just be happy that they got all this out of their system before the funeral. At least, he hopes so. He hates when he is the mature one.

To be continued.


	23. Forward

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. It's a miracle, an update in under a month. There's no Jim and Spock in this chapter because I didn't want to spoil the moment and I wanted to update this story efficiently. I promise we will see them again in the next chapter. I finished the draft yesterday.

I just want to let everybody on ff know that I now have an account on Archive of Our Own. As long as things do not get worse, I will continue to update on this site.

**Chapter 23: Forward**

As Nyota made her way back into the guest room, she realized that she seriously needed to stop listening in on conversations that she wasn't supposed to hear. Especially, if that conversation involved Jim Kirk forcing Leonard McCoy to admit that he was in love with her.

He was in love with her. How the hell could Leonard 'Lovephobic' McCoy be in love with her? Nyota was convinced he was just as relationship shy as she was after the disaster that was his first marriage. In the more than a decade that they have known each other, he has never dated, unless you count that accidental marriage. He is even less likely to do random hookups than she was due to his paranoia about space STIs. Actually, come to think of it, other than Christine, she is the only adult woman that Leonard actually talks to.

They are the best of friends. He knows her probably better than anyone, aside from maybe Jim. He understands her completely. He knows just what to say to make everything better, and she always feels safe around him. Also, she may be really happy that he's coming with her for her exile and that he's going to stay with her when she takes over Enterprise. The thought of becoming a starship captain terrifies her, but he believes in her so everything will be okay. There was a reason why she wanted Leonard to be her first officer. He is her everything.

She doesn't want to call it love because love leads to badness. It leads to her alone and crying as she mourns the loss of the guy that she thought loved her and her unborn child completely. She is terrified of going down that road again. Of course, she wasn't alone back then. Leonard was there holding her as she cried.

She needs to talk to somebody. If Jim wasn't in the middle of dealing with a three-year-old that just ransacked her luggage she would talk to him. But then again, from what she heard, he would be supportive of any relationship between her and Leonard and she needed someone to tell her that this is a very bad idea. Jim was already telling her that she needed to fall in love again and to let go of all her baggage. If she really thinks about what he has been saying for the last few months, his number one candidate for her to have a real relationship with was Leonard.

While she was helping him clean the makeup off of his charges, he essentially told her that she should just jump Bones as soon as it was safe for her to do so. Thankfully, he did this in a language that the kids don't understand (she hopes). She may or may not have thrown a lipstick at him. She loves the fact that pregnancy will let her get away with the type of things that would be considered insubordination under any other circumstances.

She wished Spock was here, either version for that matter. If his text messages were any indication, Jim's Spock was currently dealing with a slightly drunk Sam. Unfortunately, while Jim was exchanging these messages with Spock, she was forced to look for T'Mandy's shoes. This was not the type of conversation you have with one of your best friends via intergalactic messenger service. At the very least she would need to wait. Besides, she wasn't sure if Spock would be the voice of reason. He would tell her that she deserves to be loved and should not allow past experiences to impact current choices more than necessary. Vulcan logic can be such a horrible thing sometimes.

Other Spock would be just as logical. Actually, he has already been trying to push her to find someone. Come to think of it, he has been exalting the finer points of Leonard McCoy for at least the last six months. The crazy old Vulcan was already playing matchmaker and she was completely oblivious to it.

Okay, she wasn't completely oblivious to the fact that everybody has been pushing her to be with Leonard, but she didn't think that he liked her like that. She just kept telling herself it wasn't possible. They have talked about it amongst themselves every time her mother or someone else pushed him and her to be together. They always said they were just friends. Were these just lies they told each other to mask their real emotions? If she had a credit for every time Jim and Spock told her that during their denial phase, she would be a very rich woman.

Okay, she was a mess and she really wanted to talk to Leonard about this, but she doesn't think either of them are ready to deal with the truth. She knows she's not.

Christine would be a good sounding board, except she sort of has a crush on Leonard and they both know he does not reciprocate her feelings. He sees her as a work colleague and maybe a good friend, but nothing more. It would be mean to go to her for her Leonard-related man trouble.

Her mom is normally the go-to person for this sort of thing. She almost called her three times as she lay restlessly on the guest room bed, trying to take a nap when everybody else was at a very dysfunctional Kirk family luncheon. Of course, she's not ready to hear 'I told you so'. In addition, her mother is Leonard McCoy's number one cheerleader. Also, she is still a little pissed off at Alexis for not telling her about her dad. They haven't really been speaking for the last few days. Considering they were sharing a suite on the way here, that was a pretty amazing feat.

Instead, Nyota opted to send her mother a quick text message letting her know that they safely made it to Iowa and she would call her in a few days when she arrived in San Francisco. She would have to go anyway to find an apartment.

There was always Akia. She may be the only person who understands exactly where she was coming from. Akia knew firsthand what it was like to be screwed over by the guy you assumed you would be spending the rest of your life with. She would be the perfect one to pull her out of this. Unfortunately, Jim's former sister-in-law was currently dealing with her ex-husband. So again, she was alone.

Realizing a nap wasn't going to happen, Nyota found herself downstairs in Akia's office. It was still somewhat of a mess. On the ride there, Jim told her about his initial reaction to finding out he had a sister. She busied herself putting the room back together until she heard the main COM unit go off. Because she was sure it was her mother, she answered, only to see the one person she was even less enthusiastic about talking with staring back at her.

Jim and Scotty were not friends like they were before everything went down, but they were getting back there. It probably had something to do with the fact that Jim didn't send him back to Delta Vega after the entire incident. So it isn't that surprising that he would call to offer his condolences and check up on Jim, especially in light of the fact that this morning the Interplanetary Enquirer did a series of articles on Winona's passing, complete with picture of Jim running out of the funeral home on the verge of tears from a few days earlier.

"Jim is about as okay as somebody can be after losing their mom," she says after Scotty explained why he was calling. "I think all the phony condolences are starting to get to him, but he's okay." She doesn't tell Scotty anything about the sister. Nyota knows that despite what he did to her, he wasn't going to sell Jim out to the tabloids, but this wasn't her secret to tell. Besides, knowing her luck, the COM unit is probably tapped and everything she says will be all over the net in the morning.

"The captain hates that," Scotty said in his normal accent. Sometimes she thinks that they only dated because she was one of the few on the ship that could understand what he was saying without the universal translator.

"Yeah, he does. Fortunately, I was not here for most of it. Although, the thing at the car wash this morning was pretty bad. There was this guy all over him," she said, remembering it. Good thing Spock wasn't there, otherwise he would have nerve pinched the guy.

"Why did you have to stop for a car wash?" She was surprised that he asked about that instead of more details about what happened there.

"I may have got a little baby sick. We should've waited an hour before I got into the car after the shuttle ride here," she said, trying to make conversation. She's pretty sure that this is the most that they have talked to each other outside of a work-related situation since she walked in on him with the skank. She is proud of herself.

"Is everything all right with the little ones?" Scotty actually asked her with genuine concern. She's a little surprised, because he's mostly ignored her for the last six years

"You have been keeping up with the tabloids? Apparently I've been on my deathbed on New Vulcan for weeks and have miscarried about six times," she said sarcastically.

"Why should I? It's never true." She wants to laugh at that. "How are you really?" he asked her after a moment.

"I'm okay. Although, I'm being grounded to keep the risk of having another miscarriage down." The way his eyes lit up when she said 'another miscarriage' told her she was in trouble.

"Another miscarriage?" Scotty asked her with mouth opened wide. She hasn't seen a guy look this shocked since she stupidly decided to scare off Jim by making out with Spock on the transporter pad. (She is still trying to decide whether she was trying to keep him from her or Spock.)

"Shit," she mumbled under her breath.

"When?" he asked her and she came to the conclusion that if she ever really wanted to move on from what happened, she needed to tell him the truth.

"I was eight weeks pregnant when I walked in on you and that girl. I lost the baby. No, I didn't even know I was pregnant until after I miscarried." She cried and he cursed a lot. Actually, she wasn't even sure of half of what he said except for a couple of mumbled 'I'm sorry'. There was a confession in there about why he did what he did. Apparently, moving in together was freaking terrifying and he wanted a way out. Jim's assistant made matters worse by convincing him that she was screwing around with Spock. It was only after the fact that he learned she was just using him to break up Jim and Spock's relationship because she wanted Jim for herself.

Maybe, if she had found this stuff out when everything happened she would scream at him, but there was no point now. She's moved on or at least was trying to.

"I didn't tell you to make you feel guilty. I told you because I needed to let it go. I'm never going to be able to move on if I keep holding on to everything." The tears were rolling down her cheeks at this point.

"You mean to move on to the Doctor?" He actually was smiling as he said this. Did everybody see it but her?

"How do you... I'm not sure how to ask that question," she said after a moment.

"I know what a man looks like when he is in love with you. More importantly, I know what you look like when you are in love. I let my own fears screw me over. Don't do the same silly thing I did. The Doctor is not like me, he actually deserves you." With that the screen went black, not even giving her time to retort.

"You're supposed to be resting," Leonard said as he found her staring vacantly at the blank COM screen a full three minutes later.

"I was restless," she said, not looking at him. "I thought cleaning up after Jim's temper tantrum would help," she said, sitting down on the couch that she had cleared off earlier. Jim really did do a number on the room.

"Did it?" Leonard asked, giving her his "I am the doctor, you will obey me' look."

"Not really, but that is mostly because I was interrupted midway through. Scotty called, supposedly to check up on Jim," she told him, knowing that he would want to know about her ex-boyfriend calling.

"You don't believe that excuse?" he asked, knowing her a little too well.

"Not entirely. He asked about the babies and me," she said with a sigh.

"He doesn't have a right to be concerned about you after what he did," Leonard said, becoming an angry shade of purple. He hated Scotty after what happened. They were drinking buddies before, but afterward they were just colleagues that barely tolerated each other. That right there should have told her that Leonard saw her as more than just his friend. Why did she not see the signs? Probably, because she wasn't ready to see it.

"No, he doesn't, but I can't avoid him forever, especially if I become his boss. At least, he finally apologized for being an asshole and explained what happened."

"What was the pricks excuse?" Leonard said, crossing his arms. He did not look happy.

"He was terrified of how fast things were going and decided to purposely sabotage the relationship. Also, Jim's assistant was apparently screwing up my relationship with Scotty for the purposes of sabotaging Spock's relationship with Jim." She actually laughed. It seemed so absurd in hindsight.

"That makes no sense," Leonard said, scratching his head.

"Nothing really does in situations like that. I told him about the miscarriage." She spat that last part out in a rush.

"You what?" Leonard asked, mouth wide open.

"I told him about the miscarriage. I didn't mean to, but it sort of slipped out when I was explaining why I'm going to be grounded for a while," she explained.

"His reaction?" Leonard asked with concern.

"He cried and cursed a lot. He also apologized about 20 times. It doesn't really change anything," she said as Leonard wrapped her in his arms.

"Why did you tell him after so long?" Leonard asked her as he held onto her.

"Because I have to let go. I hate to say this, but Jim has been right. I've been afraid to fall in love again. Since the Scotty incident I have stuck to activities that don't require much emotional investment. I have engaged in a threesome with my ex-boyfriend and the guy he's totally in love with, I have a one week every seven years thing with an alternate version of my ex-boyfriend who is a century plus older and still in love with his Jim decades after his death, as well as having more one night stands than I really care to admit to. Half of the time, I don't even tell those guys my real name. If I ever want to have a healthy normal relationship again, I have to let go," she said, being totally honest. He was the only one she would be this open with.

"So the first step was for you to forgive the moron?" he asked.

"Along with telling him about our baby," she said with another sigh. "I have to- we have to accept that loss so we can both move on. In my case it is so I can accept motherhood completely." She now knows that the miscarriage was the real reason she was so freaked out about Amanda using the M-word and accepting the fact that the children she was caring were hers.

"You haven't gone into a panic attack in the last few days when Amanda started calling you mommy Ny. That's an improvement," Leonard joked. The way he smiled at her gave her the courage to take the next step.

"The second step is acknowledging that there's this guy, who even though he's a cranky asshole 99% of the time, he will do anything for me, even get on the shuttle for the new Vulcan colony to make sure I'm okay. He's the one person who actually knows me completely. Even though he comes with about as much baggage as I do, I think somewhere along the line I fell in love with him." That's when Leonard pulled away, mouth open in petrified shock. She now stands corrected, this is the most shocked she has seen a guy since the transporter incident.

"You love me?" he asked her, still in a daze.

"Don't ask me how it happened, because I couldn't tell you. I know I need you. I know I can tell you any secret. I know that being away from you for an extreme length of time makes me sick." She was crying again. She felt his fingers brush away her tears.

"How can you be in love with me? I drink too much. I think I have more battle scars from my first marriage than I do from working with Jim Kirk for the last nine years," he joked, but he was looking at her with such reverence that she just knew he really did love her.

"I could ask you the same thing. I still have Scotty issues even if I am trying to deal with them. I'm also pregnant by two other people. That alone would be difficult for most guys to deal with."

"You overheard Jim?" he asked, avoiding eye contact.

"Yes. However, I think if I thought about it hard enough I would have figured it out sooner or later. Amanda would be in college, but I would have seen it eventually," she joked in an effort to ease the tension. That was not happening.

"But how can…" She cuts him off by the only means she can think of: kissing him. She always thought the thing about fireworks was an overused cliché. Not once has she seen anything approximating fireworks when she has kissed a guy, and one of her partners had 100 years plus experience and knew her intimately in another timeline. She saw fireworks at the moment that his lips touched hers for the first time. Everything seemed to slow down as she gave into the sensation of his mouth and tongue.

"Finally." The words broke the two out of the moment. She turned back to see Akia with camera in hand. She had two other people with her. One she vaguely remembered as Jim's new sister-in-law, and it was obvious she was way more than just five months pregnant. Considering how the other guy was looking at Akia, he was obviously her boyfriend.

"Don't mind me. Go back to what you are doing, just no sex until I give you the okay," Akia said, actually sounding serious before she left. She also closed the door.

"God, that was embarrassing," she said as she pulled away and started to straighten up her outfit. Her jeans were already a bit tight on her and she knew she would be going maternity shopping soon.

"I should have locked the damn door," he said, getting up from the couch to engage the old-fashioned lock. Before she could respond, his mouth was on hers again and she was discovering that the couch in Akia's office was really comfortable.

To be continued


	24. In Search of Greener Grass

Thank you for reading or reviewing the last chapter. It's a miracle, another chapter in under a month. Maybe, I will get the story done before the new movie comes out.

* * *

Chapter 24: In Search of Greener Grass.

"Just put him on the bed." Jim said to his husband, as they walked into what passes as a deluxe room at the Holiday Inn Riverside. Thankfully, the girl at the front desk did not ask that many questions when he checked in with Spock carrying a very unconscious Sam. He was sure images of that will be all over the net tomorrow.

After he paid for the damages at 'Jake's Place' and was photographed by a few stray paparazzi, who thankfully missed the more explosive part of a very fucked up Kirk family lunch, they decided it was best to let Sam sleep it off. Even though he really hated the guy right now, he couldn't exactly leave him alone. Bringing Sam back to the family house would just result in more craziness and possible bloodshed and therefore not an option. One funeral was all he could take right now. Marissa suggested the hotel and offered to keep the kids distracted and entertained while Jim and Spock babysat the idiot. (Marissa may have also sent him a few files on various substance abuse programs after Spock told her about what happened at Starbucks.)

"How long does a nerve pinch usually last?" Jim asked as soon as Spock placed his brother on the bed. "It's already been 45 minutes."

"1 to 2 hours," Jim pouted at Spock's response. He assumed it would be longer than that considering he was safely on Delta Vega before he woke up after Spock did that to him. However, for the sake of their marriage, they usually didn't mention anything related to the 'Delta Vega incident'. "Unfortunately, I am uncertain how vast quantities of alcohol will affect the situation. It may be a cumulative effect."

"Seriously, why did you let him get drunk at Starbucks?" He asked slightly annoyed. Although, Jim wondered if sobriety would have helped the situation. Even if Sam was sober Jim doubted he would have taken the news very well. At least, they could blame the whole incident on Sam being completely inebriated (Aurelan mentioned that the drinking thing was a normal occurrence right now.)

"Because, I would have most likely punched him in the spaceport if he did not leave my presence immediately. From the conversation I had with Mrs. Kirk, I most likely would have had to incapacitate him to prevent him from drinking." Jim sighed at Spock's words.

"So instead, he got drunk and you had to incapacitate him at a family restaurant to keep him from doing something so stupid that he would have got arrested after he emotionally scarred all of his children. I better call Bones." Jim said reaching in his 'Amanda bag' for his communicator. He opened it to see a text message from his sister-in-law that made him laugh. He needed it after the last hour. Under the word 'finally' was a picture of Bones kissing Ny. It wasn't a chaste kiss either. It was a 'if you were not on medical restriction I would have you on top of the desk in 30 seconds' type of kiss.

"Actually, I better just search for the effects of alcohol and nerve pinches online. If I call Bones right now, we're both going to have to deal with the hypos of death." He said as he passed the communicator to his husband.

"I find this development in there relationship surprising." Spock said as he looked at the picture.

"You are actually admitting to being surprised? I'm shocked." Jim said mockingly. "How could you not see this coming? They have been making eyes at each other for the last three years at least if not the last 12 years."

"I was aware of their physical attraction. I am surprised that they gave into it so soon." Okay he wasn't expecting Spock to say anything like that.

"Spock, it's been 12 years, two major relationships, and three children. There is nothing 'soon' about it. At least, something good happened today." Jim said with a sigh, as he fell on the other bed in the room. Spock quickly joined him. He asked for two beds because he had this feeling that his sister-in-law probably didn't want to sleep in the same bed as her husband right now. Actually, he may need to get her another room. She looked mortified and deeply hurt by Sam's angry words. (Hell, he was half tempted to offer to pay for a divorce attorney but that would be something his father-in-law would do.)

"The situation could have been worse." Spock said trying to be reassuring. It came off a little condescending.

"Yes, Sam could be in jail now for punching his own kid, if you didn't knock him out Vulcan style. We are going to have to have a talk with Amanda about keeping some things to herself. Something like what happened today could easily lead to a diplomatic incident. Actually, it already has." He said remembering an incident where Amanda repeated a curse word, in an unknown language, at the wrong time, in front of the wrong ambassador. That was a disaster involving Nyota barely keeping all of them from getting hauled off to jail.

"I am uncertain if the situation would have been less volatile if Sam found out about Marissa's identity by other means." Spock said as he rubbed gentle circles on Jim's back.

"Okay, even I admit that putting Akia, Landon, and Sam in a room together is like throwing a match into a deep fryer. Especially, considering Sam has a little drinking issue. The thing with Marissa was just the lighter fluid." Jim said as he did a quick web search on alcohol and nerve pinches. There was nothing there about duration of incapacitation. Although, they couldn't leave Sam alone as he already assumed.

"That is an excellent analogy for the situation at hand, yet, slightly confusing. Why would anybody throw a lit match at a container of oil?" Jim was sure Spock was doing his playing dumb thing to amuse Jim. It was cute.

"Stupidity or carelessness, which is exactly what happened today. We should have gave him a sedative before he hit Starbucks. We have to be careful tomorrow not to make the same mistake. I really want my mom to have a good funeral. That means were going to have to keep Sam and Akia on separate sides of the funeral tomorrow." Jim said on the verge of tears.

"I think we need to be more concerned about Landon." He pinched his forehead, knowing that Spock was right.

"Yes, Kirk men are at their most stupid between ages 18 to 22." He said sarcastically.

"Were you not 25 when you consider hacking into the Starfleet computer system to reconfigure a test an acceptable strategy to pass the Kobayashi Maru?"

"Okay, let's change that to 18 to 25." He joked.

"Also, how old were you when you drove your father's vintage convertible over a cliff?" Spock was giving him 'the look' as he pointed this out.

"Okay, I see your point. We do very stupid things regardless of age and especially, if alcohol is involved. We probably need to keep Sam sober." Jim said remembering the damage that a drunk Sam did at the wedding. Maybe, he should look at the literature on rehab centers just in case.

"I hope to all deities in the universe that the stupidity gene is located on the X chromosome. Apparently, accidental pregnancy seems to be the most common screw-up, although in our case, the whole incident falls under the category of 'the aliens made us do it while high on fertility drugs'. I really don't want to deal with a teenage Amanda coming to us after a prom night that went badly." Jim said with a sigh. Spock actually shivered.

"Why did you never doubt the validity of your mother's statements regarding your father's infidelity?" Spock asked changing the subject. Apparently, the thought of their little girl accidentally getting pregnant made Spock just as uncomfortable.

"Because she wouldn't lie about something like this. She may keep the truth from you but she doesn't lie. She never did. I also told you about all those winks and nods I got from people who knew dad back in the day. His lady-killer reputation was worse than my lady-killer reputation." Jim explained.

"That is mostly because he limited himself to the female of the species." For Spock, that was actually a joke.

"I took after grandpa Tiberius, except I believe in monogamy." Spock just gave him a frown.

"Why are you giving me the look?" He asked his husband.

"At the spaceport, your brother said it was hypocritical for us to condemn him for beginning his relationship with his current wife before ending things with Akia in light of our relationship with Nyota." Jim is not that surprised he said something like that especially considering the nasty things that have been on the net recently. Sam likes to pick at the little flaws of others instead of dealing with his own massive ones.

"I doubt that he said 'our'." Jim snorted. Sam wouldn't be that gracious.

"No, he also referred to her as your mistress." Jim could tell that Spock was angry about that. Jim just rolled his eyes.

"You did tell him that he doesn't know me at all?"

"Yes." Spock answered simply.

"Good husband." He said giving Spock a quick peck on the cheek. He wasn't going to do more than that even if his brother was out for the duration in the bed next to him.

"Conversely, he stated that you do not know him very well." Why did Spock have to bring up such a logical point?

"That's obvious. I didn't think he would be the type of guy who would lie about being on the shot because he doesn't like condoms. I didn't think he would be the type of guy who would lie to his assistant about the status of his marriage just to get her into his bed. I didn't think he was the type of guy who would get completely wasted before lunchtime. I really didn't think it would be so hard for him to accept that our father really was a fuck up." Spock placed an arm around him at that point.

"When did this family get so screwed up? I used to think it all fell apart when dad died, especially after I found out my other self had such a sunshine happy life. But the existence of Marissa proves things were very screwed up before then and I probably should stop automatically assuming that the grass was so much greener for my other self." Jim said with a sigh.

"Maybe you should concentrate more on creating a functional family unit now than how green the grass actually is. What does the shade of grass have to do with anything?" Spock asked still playing dumb.

"Come on, you know about the human expression, 'the grass is always greener on the other side'. Except, I'm starting to realize that my other self probably had an even more screwed up family than I did, because he was completely unaware of it. Unlike him, I have you as my husband, I have wonderful children, and I am actually getting a chance to know the 'good sibling'." He is starting to realize that he does have it a lot better than his other self.

"Of course, he didn't have to bury his mom because of cancer but that's life. I've had lots of good moments that were not completely fucked up. Damien was a good stepfather and once upon a time, I didn't think Sam was a bastard. At one point, we used to tell each other everything and now it feels like we are strangers. When did Sam and I stop talking to each other?" Jim asked his husband almost pleading.

"I don't know. Maybe it's more important that you concentrate on improving the relationship you have now?"

"Did you have a chocolate shake?" He asked at his husband's use of contractions.

"Maybe." Spock answered simply.

"Well next time, share. I may not get the same buzz as you, but junk food can be very comforting."

"We can go to that ridiculous fast food restaurant with the clown mascot to get you an actual burger once your brother regains consciousness." Spock suggested. Things must be desperate if Spock is volunteering to let him eat meat.

"According to the website I just looked at, this may take a while and I probably should stick around to actually talk to my brother." Jim said shrugging.

"You want to repair your relationship with him?" Spock questioned him.

"He's my brother. I love him, I just want to hit him at the same time." Jim said as he laid his head on Spock's lap.

"I feel the same way about my father." After that Spock suggested ordering pizza and playing electronic chess. Quality Spock time was just what he needed.

* * *

It is moments like these, that Akia really wished they covered 'how to deal with your ex-husband's wife as a patient' in med school. (Especially, after said ex-wife spent the entire ride crying as she apologized for breaking up your marriage in the first place.) It would probably be covered under conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, Riverside was a small town and there weren't that many OB/GYNs in the area that were not Starfleet affiliated. She was one of the few and that was only because she relocated to the state to help take care of Winona post-divorce.

The drive back to the farm was uncomfortable and mostly silent except for Aurelan apologizing for her husband's stupidity and her role in it all. She made lots of excuses for Sam but not for herself in between sobs. Akia wondered how many of those same excuses she made herself. Of course, during their marriage, Sam usually waited till at least lunchtime to hit the bar.

Listening to her many excuses for Sam's stupid behavior, was better than dealing with longing looks from Marcus. She seriously wondered whose idea it was to invite her bo- friend to this very explosive situation, known as a Kirk family lunch. Actually, she really wanted to know who told Sam that Marcus was her boyfriend. It had to be Spock, but he is not the type to do silly things like that.

Akia was kind of happy that she caught Nyota making out with Leonard in her study, even if she was going to have to disinfect the couch afterwards. She really hoped they don't go all the way. Despite her very sound medical advice that doing that would be stupid. Maybe seeing the most relationship shy person she knows finally try again gives her hope that, despite everything that happened with Sam, it could get better. It also gave her an excuse to send a picture of the whole thing to Jim. He's going to love this.

"Was that...?" Aurelan asked just as Akia hit the send button on her text message to Jim.

"The woman sticking her tongue into Leonard's mouth is Commander Nyota Uhura. She was Spock's best person at the wedding. She is also Jim's best friend and the couple's gestational carrier of choice. I think you guys were introduced at the wedding but I kind of repressed the entire disaster." Akia explained, as she shivered at the mere thought of that wedding.

She ended up crying in the bathroom for a good hour when Spock's 'uncle' informed her that in the other reality she had the good sense not to get pregnant by Sam Kirk. He also told her about the woman he did marry. Till this day, Akia wasn't sure why she was crying.

"The guy she was making out with his Dr. Leonard McCoy. He is a medical genius. I've read all his journal articles." Marcus added excitedly. He was so fresh out of med school, that he still got giddy around his idols. This is exactly why a relationship between the two would not work. She is so much older than him and she was technically his boss. The sex was great, but she learned from her first marriage that things like that were not really that important.

"If he's not cranky about us breaking up his make out session, that has been long overdue, I will see if I can get him to autograph your copy of the Modern Federation Journal of Medicine." She teased as they walked through the hallway connecting the house to the soon to be renamed Winona Kirk Medical Center. Her mother-in-law refused to let her call it that before her death, but now that she was dead, Akia will call it what she wants. Winona's portion of what she referred to as the 'Kelvin blood-money' helped pay for the facility. It was only right that it be named for her.

"I thought she was-" Aurelan started to ask but stopped because she obviously couldn't come up with a polite way to ask if Nyota was screwing around with Jim. At least, Sam's wife had more common sense than he did. If she did not screw around with her then husband, the two may have been friends.

"Don't believe everything you read in the tabloids." Akia said as they walked into the main examination area. "Enough about that, put this on." She said placing the pink hospital gown in her hand, happy for the fact she won't have to say more about Jim's very unconventional love life. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Are you okay?" Marcus asked her as she put on her purple lab coat and went to wash her hands.

"I hate that question. Since Winona died, I have been asked that 178 times." She said putting her hands underneath the hand sanitizing station.

"Yes, but this time I'm asking in relation to your ex-husband being a complete prick." Marcus said with a smirk.

"I'm used to Sam being a prick to me and others. I think I'm most irritated at Sam for dragging his 34 weeks pregnant wife all the way here." She was also mad about the whole thing with Landon but she blamed her son for giving in so easily to his father's stupid behavior.

"You're going into Doctor mode." Marcus said with a frown.

"I am a doctor." She said mimicking her brother-in-law's eyebrow raised.

"No, you avoid things by retreating into your professional persona. You become Doctor Kirk and I become Doctor Iversen, not your boyfriend. That's exactly now what you're doing now with your former husband's wife." Now she would expect Jim to say something like that but not Marcus. She thought her surrogate little brother was the only one who knew her that well.

"You're not my boyfriend," she said a little too quickly that he didn't even blink.

"How long have we been sleeping together? How many times have I brought you dinner when you were dealing with a sick Winona? How many times have I gone with you to your kids soccer matches or baseball games? I've done 'just sex relationships' before and this is not a 'just sex relationship'." As soon as Jim really starts talking to her again he will be pointing out the same thing.

"You may have a point but I haven't had time to think about it because of everything going on. Also, I hate the word boyfriend. You may be just a few years older than Landon but you're not a boy." She said with a smile.

"The only reason why I'm less than five years older than your son is because you had the misfortune of getting pregnant as a teenager. Despite the age thing, I am definitely no boy . I'm also not just a friend. I don't want to put a label on what we have, but I won't be pushed away. I think I understand your reluctance after meeting your ex-husband. He sure did a number on you." He said frowning. His voice was filled with sympathy.

"Yeah, he left me a little jaded. According to Winona I need to let go of that. She likes you or rather she liked you." Akia received her own 'letter' from her now gone mother-in-law. Apparently, it was her dying wish to see Akia and Marcus finally get together.

"It's good to know I had the Winona Kirk seal of approval." He said moving in to kiss her but she pulled away.

"I'm not the good doctor, who is hopefully just making out on my office couch. Also, I'm all clean now. Even though I love you, I hate washing my hands more than absolutely necessary. I still need to make sure my children's half sibling hasn't been irreparably damaged by Sam's stupidity before he even gets here." Marcus did not say anything for a moment. It isn't until she replayed what she just said in her mind, does she understands why he is so quiet. She doesn't take it back.

"I don't think you should do the examination." Marcus finally says after a few minutes of silence. "It's a conflict of interest. The child is sort of a family member. I can do it." He volunteered and that's the reason why she doesn't take back her 'I love you'.

"It's fine. She doesn't know you and gynecological visits usually make most women's blood pressure go sky high under the best of circumstances. Also I don't think Sam will be happy about my - -partner looking at his wife's private parts." She didn't like the word partner either but it sounded a lot better than boyfriend.

"That's probably why I should do it. Besides, do you want to ask her for permission to test for STI's? Because if he slept around on you, than I wouldn't be surprised if he did it to her too." She was almost about to defend Sam but after what happened to Winona, she can't take that risk with anyone. She also remembered Aurelan saying something about Sam not always coming home during her crying jag in the car. She knows all too well what Sam did when he did not come home.

"Okay." She said in defeat.

* * *

Sam eyes opened to the sight of his brother and his husband playing video games on the bed across from him. His wife was nowhere to be seen. They were also eating pizza. The smell made him sick. Which resulted in him going immediately to throw up.

"Oh, good. You're finally conscious again." Jimmy said in a way too chipper voice from the bed.

"Not so loud," he said after making good use of the mouthwash that was waiting for him on the counter.

"So, I guess what they say about alcohol and nerve pinches is true, it makes the hangover 1000 times worse." Jim said with a smirk that was so annoying.

"There is acetaminophen and a bottle of water on the side table." Jim's husband said without even looking up from his game.

"This is all your fault." Sam said grabbing the pills and water.

"Stop blaming my husband or anyone else for your stupidity. You're the one who got blotto at Starbucks before noon. He's the one who stopped you from hitting your own son. Do you want to become Frank?" Jim said with a hint of irritation. Jimmy's accusation was bitter. Sam despised that man and made it his goal to be nothing like the man.

"I'm nothing like him." Sam barked at his brother, bitterly.

"Except the fact that you keep fucking around on your wife. Akia sent a message. She said that if Aurelan comes back positive for STIs, she's personally coming here to cut off your balls. Do you know that she broke down in tears when she told Akia all about the fact that you rarely come home now?" Jimmy's gaze was accusing and he deserved it. He hasn't been around lately, not since he found out Aurelan was pregnant. It was a total accident and he didn't want to raise another child but Aurelan wanted this kid.

"She didn't say that." Sam said looking away.

Jim handed him his PADD. Actually, what his ex-wife said was worse than that. She included all the things that can go wrong if you contract a STI when pregnant. Akia always went into Doctor mode when she was pissed.

"It was one time and I was drunk." He confessed, not really remembering the entire incident. That's been happening a lot in the last few months. Actually, it may have been more than once but he doesn't really remember.

"You are fucking unbelievable." Jimmy screamed at him. "Our mom is dead because of one of her husband's screwed around on her and gave her some STI that caused cancer. Now, you're doing the same thing to another wife. Did you not realize how badly your little zipper problem screwed everyone over before? Now you are doing it again. You really are our father's son." Jimmy's gaze was ice cold. The accusation makes him angry. Sam doesn't believe that Marissa is his sister. His father was a hero, not someone who would sleep around on their mother.

"Shut up, Jimmy. You're not that fucking perfect, so stop pretending to be. You knocked up your girlfriend behind your husband's back. Don't try to paint dad as a horrible person to make you feel better." In Sam's mind, that is the only reason why Jimmy is doing this.

"The children that Nyota is having are biologically Spock's and mine. Because you are a biologist, you should know something like that would require medical intervention, regardless of what's in the tabloids. I know you don't want to believe this but much, like yourself, daddy couldn't keep his zipper zipped. Also, he liked to lie about being on the contraceptive shot and that's how we ended up with a sister. Of course I wouldn't be here either if he did not do that." He kept telling himself that these were all lies.

"That would be such a great loss." Sam said sarcastically. "Life was so much better before you were born."

"Dad died and everything changed. It had nothing to do with me and even that doesn't explain why you keep screwing around on your wives."

"It was one time and I was drunk." Sam said in his defense.

"Yeah well you drink a lot and I don't think it was just one time." Jimmy said with a sad look.

"You would too if you had to grow up at 18 because you got someone pregnant. Then once you're finally free you end up going through it all over again due to some contraceptive mishap." Sam said with barely concealed anger.

"I did grow up. Because of your stupidity, I got shipped off to the planet of the damned. I had to watch a genocide. I watched people starve to death. I was raped. More importantly, I saw the same thing happen to other people and I was unable to stop it. I promised myself that I would never allow something like that to happen again." Jim was crying at this point. He didn't know what really happened. Jim never said a word. He wasn't sure if Jim's husband already knew because he always had a frozen expression on his face.

"You never talked about what happened there." Sam was glad he never did. He really didn't need another reason to be guilty about that entire thing.

"You never wanted to hear about what happened." James said defensively.

"I think it may be best if we leave." The uptight Vulcan guys suggested. "I'm sure we have left Marissa with the children long enough." The mere mention of that name made him angry.

"Yes, that woman who is pretending to be our sister." Sam said with rage.

"She's not pretending. Unlike you, I have actually seen the DNA test. Also, unlike you, I've never believed that George Kirk was a saint. He's just as fucked up as the rest of us."

"DNA tests can lie, everything else does." Sam said getting up from the bed to head for the mini fridge. Fortunately it was well-stocked with alcohol. He needed a drink to deal with his brother.

"Do you really need a drink right now?" Jim said with a sigh.

"Go to hell Jimmy and Get the fuck out of here." He said tossing the now empty bottle at the wall.

* * *

"How is Aurelan?" Jim asked the moment he arrived back at the farmhouse. The kids were now playing with their brand-new aunt in the front yard. Thank God for the resiliency of children and their ability to just roll with the punches.

If it wasn't for the detour to lovers gorge he would probably be a bit more high strung. Once Spock found out that the kids were safely back at the farmhouse, he thought it would be best to de-stress him before he was around anyone else. By the time he and Spock got back to his sister-in-law's house, Jim was calm enough not to make snide comments about the bite marks on his friend's neck. He did not do that because he wasn't sure if Spock left something similar. Apparently, his husband picked up the biting thing from Ny.

"The baby dropped and she's dilated 1 cm. But she hasn't had any contractions." Considering that Akia was doing her best impression of Spock, he knew she was being completely serious. "We're keeping an eye on the baby's heartbeat."

"You're not joking?" He asked slightly worried. He may hate his brother right now but that kid is his nephew. Unlike his brother, Sam, he actually loved children. Amanda was like the best thing in his life.

"It's not that unusual for things like this to start as early as a month before actual labor begins. The good news is her blood pressure is in a happy place. Considering she has been dealing with an emotionally unstable Sam for the last week, I consider that a miracle."

"It's a miracle she didn't go into labor on the way here." Bones said soberly.

"I'm sure Sam was drunk when he made those accommodations." Jim said putting his head in his hands.

"I had to give you pot brownies." Akia said sort of defending her ex-husband.

"Yes, I had three doses of marijuana, under medical supervision, because I'm allergic to half of your other options and just got out of the hospital less than a week ago for an allergic reaction. However, I didn't wake up and go straight to the minibar after getting nerved pinched."

"No, you just got out of an escape pod in the middle of nowhere and got chased by some big red scary thing." Akia just gave him a strange look as she shook her head.

"Sam has always drunk a lot but this seems worse." Akia said almost making an excuse.

"Considering he has been screwing around with other women when he's been completely drunk it is worse." Jim said before giving her the details of his conversation with Sam.

"Fuck, we can't tell her. Something like that really would send her into premature labor. This is not good." Jim completely agreed with his former sister-in-law.

To be continued.


	25. Death at a Starfleet Funeral I

Thank you to everyone that read, reviewed, or gave kudos. Your feedback keeps me getting these chapters out in a timely fashion. It also helps that I'm not trying to write nine stories at the same time. Thanks to the IMAX thing, I need to get this done by May 14.

I've had the chapter title for this in mind for years. Then again, I have been writing this story for nearly 3 years.

From the title you can tell that the film Death at a Funeral did influence some of the next few chapters but I think the Kirk family is a lot more dysfunctional, so expect even more craziness.

After rereading several of my stories before reposting on AO3 I realize that on more than one occasion I have switched the name of an original character halfway through a story. I probably should start writing these things down. I don't think I have given Landon's girlfriend an actual name yet but if I have, it is Madison now.

* * *

Chapter 25: Death at a Starfleet Funeral part one

Today was the day that he buried his mother and he would rather deal with Klingons or the Admiralty. This day would completely suck under any circumstances. However, he had to deal with his probably drunk already brother who's sleeping around on his new wife, said sister-in-law being watched like a hawk by the three doctors in attendance to make sure she does not go into premature labor, a grandmother who wanted to pretend his marriage to a male multi-species person is just a phase, and multiple stepfathers, some of which he would like to throw out an airlock. Oh yeah, and most of the admiralty were still coming to this thing because his mom was a highly decorated Starfleet officer. The scary thing is the unknown half-sister doesn't even register as something he should be concerned with because his family is just that crazy. This was going to be a fucking disaster.

Actually, it already was. The funeral home was already late and has yet to arrive with the chairs or his mother's body. Also, one of his nephews may have broken his mother's favorite lamp when they were trying to move the furniture out of the living room. Seriously, what was his mom thinking when she wanted a home funeral?

This disaster was why he already ate the brownie in the purple plastic baggie that Akia gave him this morning. Apparently his sister-in-law thought he was going to need drugs to get through this day. It hasn't kicked in yet.

However, he is James T. Kirk and he thrives on surviving no-win scenarios. If he can deal with Nero and other sociopaths that like to terrorize the galaxy, he can get through this without more 'brownies'. He has a good team with him and they will get through this funeral. To do that he is going to treat this funeral as any other mission where it seems like everything will blow up in his face at any moment, which seems highly likely with his family.

He now sat at the breakfast table with his husband, Nyota, Bones, Marcus, Marissa, Landon's girlfriend whose name may or may not be Madison, and Admiral Pike to plan the best way to keep this funeral from becoming a bloodbath or a repeat of yesterday's aborted family lunch. Spock suggested that they have a planning meeting to avoid the mistakes of yesterday and or the broken furniture of this morning. It may be a good way to decide who was going to take care of what.

Akia wasn't there because she was currently screaming at the funeral director for not getting to the house on time. Things must not be going good considering that she was now behind closed doors but he could still hear her screaming at the guy. As punishment for almost attacking his father at Jake's Place, Landon was in charge of getting all the kids dressed. T'Mandy was currently lecturing him on Vulcan funeral attire. His sister-in-law was evil when she wanted to be. Actually, both were.

Pike was there because he offered to help anyway he could and he needed somebody with high enough rank to keep stepfather number two in line. Okay, he needed someone to help with all the Admiralty. He just knew Admiral Chicken would say something stupid.

Their goals were simple; make sure everyone survived this funeral without bloodshed, hospitalization, or anybody getting arrested. Considering Aurelan has dilated another half a centimeter overnight, the hospitalization thing seemed likely no matter what. However, he was going to do his best to make sure that nobody got arrested.

Because he was Aurelan's Doctor, Marcus was in charge of keeping Sam away from his wife at all cost. They were all sure five minutes with Sam would send her into premature labor. Even though Sam is a dick, he has excellent taste in women that Jim can actually like. Therefore, he wanted to help keep Aurelan and the baby safe.

Marcus's other job was to keep Akia from punching out her ex-husband. Considering how pissed off she was after she found out about Sam doing the exact same thing he did to her to his new wife, that he claimed he actually loves, bloodshed was highly probable. His mom's old room was next to Akia's and he heard lots of cursing and breaking of glass last night.

Jim was in charge of getting his brother to see some sort of sense or at least keeping him from causing more damage. He doesn't think that was going to happen but he has the best chance of not reacting violently. He did make it out of the hotel room yesterday without smacking Sam upside the head. Spock has already rendered him unconscious and Nyota has an evil right hook. Combined with pregnancy hormones, it just was a recipe for disaster. One comment about her being Jim's mistress and Sam will be out on the floor. Actually, that was also the reason why Bones was in charge of wrangling all the other dysfunctional relatives. In his case, he would probably use a hypo to render Sam unconscious but the effect would be the same. It was bad when Jim was the mature one.

Pike was also in charge of keeping the bloodshed down to a minimum. His job was to keep husband number three and four from attacking number five or two. Because ex-husband number three only slept with one other person and unlike his mother he was tested regularly for STIs, he was pretty sure he wasn't the one who gave her OPV. Apparently, in an effort to make sure that Amanda had a very happy childhood in space, Winona was back on friendly terms with her ex-husband and he was beyond inconsolable at her death. (Pike mentioned something about crying.) Ex-husband number three wanted blood and unlike Admiral Chicken the guy has actually seen armed combat. According to Starfleet legend he was an excellent shot and killed a guy barehanded. Damien was equally pissed off and because ex-husband number three actually apologize for being a prick they join forces. This was going to be bad.

Actually, Pike was in charge of keeping everybody from attacking Frank and Charles. Even Spock wants to kick Frank's ass. When you piss off a Vulcan, you know you are screwed. Jim's neck hurt for months after the bridge incident.

To keep her blood pressure in a happy place, Nyota has babysitting duty and wouldn't actually be at the funeral. Marissa thought it would be best for some of the children not to be there for the actual funeral. They would get to say goodbye to their grandmother privately before everyone arrived. When taking care of Kirk children was the less stressful option, the situation had to be bad. However, quality Bones time seems to have done wonders for calming her down. She's been smiling all morning and humming. Jim doesn't remember seeing her this happy before.

Now the important thing was keeping Landon in check. Yesterday, he underestimated his nephew's anger. He should've known better because his nephew has been edgy for days. He wouldn't do that today.

"Because your boyfriend may actually listen to you, you're in charge of keeping Landon from doing anything stupid like punching out his father." Jim said turning to the girl.

"I'm already on it. I put Xanax GX in his hot chocolate. If that doesn't work, I can always threaten to withhold sex if he does something that stupid again." She said with a wicked smile. This girl may do well in this family.

"I don't want to know about my nephew sex life. Just be safe because we don't need any more surprise children in this family." The smile fell off her face at that moment and he was really hoping that doesn't mean what he thinks it means.

"That doesn't always work." Spock said from behind him. Jim blamed that comment on the fact that Spock had the brownie in the blue bag. He may have also had a chocolate cranberry scone. His family was so crazy that it was driving his husband to get stoned Vulcan style.

"One more comment like that and you're picking up Grandma Kirk." Jim said turning to his husband.

"I will pick up grandma Kirk. I don't want to get Spock out of jail for incapacitating a 90-year-old geriatric." Pike volunteered. The man was braver than probably anyone else in the room.

"If you want to keep her from beating you with her purse you'll remember that she is only in her early 80s. Actually, in her mind she is in her 70's. Never mind, she will probably beat somebody with her purse anyway. Maybe you can get the purse from her." Jim rambled. When will that brownie start working. It worked a lot better last time.

"Why is everybody so afraid of Landon's great grandmother?" Madison (?) asked as everyone else shivered a little. Everyone but her has had the misfortune of having to deal with grandma Kirk.

"Because she's a homophobic/Xenophobic bitch." Marissa answered before Jim could. "I remember this one time at the grocery store where she called my dads that F word just because they were holding hands. I was only five at the time. She was so hateful. This mean she's now my grandmother?" Marissa asked looking at Jim.

"I'm sorry." He was really sorry that she was going to be a part of this now. "Let's put it this way, you're the new normal one in the family. I was told that before our grandfather's death, she was just a teeny bit xenophobic. Then she found out that he was sleeping through the male population of the greater galaxy and she decided to take it out on those she felt responsible for the demise of her marriage." Jim explained skeptically.

"I'm not sure how stable their marriage could have been considering they only got married because he got her pregnant after hooking up at a party." Pike explained and Jim really wondered exactly how the Admiral knew about that deep dark part of Kirk family history. He wished he knew about that family secret before his wedding where his grandmother chastised him for conceiving a kid before he got married. Of course, in her mind he was sleeping with Nyota.

"So accidental pregnancy is really common in this family?" Landon's girlfriend asked nervously. Oh God, he really doesn't want a great niece or nephew the same age as his own children. It's bad enough that he has a brother-in-law younger than his daughter.

"Is there something that you and Landon need to tell Akia?" Marcus asked quietly.

"I think I'm going to go help Landon dress his baby brother." The girl said getting out of there as fast as humanly possible and Marissa followed behind. Jim's response was to put his head on the table. This was going to be the most dysfunctional funeral ever.

After that Marcus left to check on his patient or possibly to prepare his sort of girlfriend for the news that she was most likely a grandmother due to the Kirk ability to fail miserably at the use of contraceptives. Bones and Nyota also made some excuse to get the hell out of the kitchen.

"They're probably going to make out now." Now what was surprising is it was Spock that actually made this snide comment, with a contraction, as he placed his hand on Jim's ass. Did he mention that Pike was still in the room. The chocolate must be going to his husband's head, probably the one below his belt.

"How much chocolate did you have? One of us has to stay sober and it's supposed to be you." He said as he reluctantly pulled his husband's hand away.

"Two brownies and a scone, my father contacted me this morning." Spock explained. "T'Pay will be stopping by." Considering the emotions Jim was feeling through their bond, Jim was sure there's more to it than that, but he doesn't have the emotional energy to push.

"That explains so much." Jim said giving Spock his you will so be telling me everything later look.

"I do not understand why you expect one of us to be sober when we both ingested cannabis the night we discovered that Marissa is your biological sister on your father's side." Spock said just as Pike started to shake his head.

"I really don't want to know about your recreational drug use. I know you forget that I'm a member of the admiralty sometimes but you really shouldn't say things like this in front of your boss." Pike said with a sigh.

"Of course, I forget your part of the admiralty because you're not a prick. Hey, it's not recreational when it's medically prescribed. I'm allergic to almost the entire benzodiazepine family of drugs. Also, if you have met his father you would understand the need for chocolate." Jim said in defense of his husband and himself.

"I have met his father. That's why was only concerned about you, Jim. The worst he does is make jokes about crewmembers hooking up when he slightly inebriated." That's when Jim's face fell.

"That wasn't a joke, was it? You know there are rules about that sort of thing. Although, that does explain why Doctor McCoy asked to be reassigned to earth. Of course Admiral Chickens said no." Okay, Jim was not happy about that. Bones would be furious. Not only was he in love with her but keeping her healthy was his number one priority.

"He requested that before they became friends with make out privileges yesterday. What do you mean he said no? He's her Doctor and this is a high-risk pregnancy." Jim asked.

"He's not happy that we used the existence of his grandchild to keep you from a lifelong star mapping mission. I have no idea they were together otherwise I would've fought harder. I thought you guys…" Pike started but stopped. "There is no polite way for me to ask if you're engaging in a sexual relationship together with your communications officer. You two are the reason why I have gray hair." Pike said with another sigh.

"Why does everyone think were sleeping together?" Jim asked.

"Because you and your husband got her pregnant." Pike shot back.

"It wasn't like it was 100% consensual. You read the report. The whole thing was some big cultural misunderstanding that resulted in her getting pregnant. We don't even remember what happened." Of course, if Pike read the entire report he would know that they were given a very mild aphrodisiac and the fertility drugs. As much as they would have liked they were not given anything that would have forced the three to do whatever they actually did.

"You did kiss her first after she mentioned missing regular sex." Spock said shocking the hell out of Him. Spock swore up and down that he didn't remember what happened the night that the babies were conceived but his Vulcan husband did have a tendency to lie by omission a lot. It was a very Spock thing to do.

"Wait, you remember what happened?" Fortunately, for Spock and the poor Admiral that was being forced to hear the entire conversation Madison came back into the room. "Your stepmom just showed up and she brought her girlfriend. Your sister is not happy and I think she just threw a Barbie at her. Although, in her defense, she just, in the most matter-of-fact way possible, told her that she was the product of an arranged marriage that they have mutually decided to dissolve. You may want to get in there." Okay Jim was shocked but not really. Vulcans were like that. Also, if one of his stepdads showed up with their special friend he would be throwing a fit as well.

"Just when I start to think my family is the most screwed up ever your family does something to make me reconsider." Jim said just as his communicator chirped. It was a message from the hotel telling him to pick up his brother. Also apparently he owes the hotel 10,000 credits in damages.

"Then Sam does something that makes me reevaluate that again. You're coming with me because I need someone to drive and I know you haven't been eating the purple brownies." He said grabbing Madison's hand.

It was going to be a very long funeral.

* * *

Landon was sure his mom knew something was up. There had to be a reason why she was putting him on babysitting duty so much since he left Iowa State a few days ago to help with the madness of his grandmother's funeral. His mom was one of the top gynecologists on the planet, if not in the entire Federation. She probably recognized the symptoms of pregnancy better than anyone else. This was probably her version of scared straight, albeit a little too late. Really, it was an accident.

Having to deal with his cousin Amanda who keeps drawing with his mom's lipstick in the hallways is not doing anything for his confidence in his abilities at being an adequate parental figure. This was made worse by the fact that his little brother was using his mom's makeup to make handprints all over the pristine white walls of the living room that is supposed to be filled with mourners in the next 90 minutes (if the funeral home people will ever get there). He was too busy dressing the little one to notice that his brother and cousin had broken into the makeup again and already moved downstairs. He was going to suck at this parenting thing.

The whole thing with accidentally giving T'Mandy a chocolate Brownie terrified him for life. He should have listened to his uncle instead of trying to be the cool cousin. He should know better. If he was going to be a dad in six months, he was going to have to do better.

This wasn't planned but he still kind of wanted it. He's been helping his mom raise his brothers for a long time so he is not completely clueless. He knew children were not easy. This didn't happen because he did something stupid like lying about being on the contraceptive shot or improperly storing condoms. His mother taught him to be more cautious than that.

This accident was caused by a series of unfortunate events and other people's stupidity. In one of his labs, he accidentally handled a plan that rendered his contraceptive shot inactive. Not that he knew that could happen because it was a new plant that was just recently brought back from somewhere in the galaxy. The good news is his research paper about the whole thing will be published next month.

At the same time, Madison got completely screwed over by her chemistry major roommate, who secretly switched out her birth control pills with something experimental that wasn't even legal yet. Instead of working as a contraceptive, it functioned as a fertility drug. They press charges (after Madison knocked her out) but what good would it do. In six months, he was going to be a father and it scared the hell out of him.

Can you blame him with Sam as a father? His mom loved him but his dad never wanted him. Sam blamed him for all the things that he never got to do. It was Landon's fault that he married a woman that he didn't love. It was Landon's fault that he couldn't take off planet assignments. It was Landon's fault that his career was going nowhere. That sort of thing really screws with a child's mind, even if he knew none of it was true. His father even blamed Landon for his uncle's unpleasant experience on Tarsus.

Thankfully, he had Uncle Jim around to set him straight. Now his uncle Jim loves him unconditionally and was always available even when he was several light-years away. They practically grew up together. He was like a cross between a big brother and a surrogate father. He was a little jealous of his cousin Amanda because she got two good fathers (in addition to her super cool mom) and he got stuck with a crappy one. (Unfortunately, unlike his father, Uncle Jim actually paid attention and probably had an idea of what was going on. Also unlike Sam, Landon actually cared about his Uncle Jim's opinion.)

Sam was never available even when he lived in the same house. He wasn't the type of father that played catch or help with homework. It was always his mom and grandmother that did those sort of things with him and his brothers. The last few years before the divorce, Sam took a lot of off planet or out of town assignments whenever possible. Even when he was home, he would disappear for days at a time. He can't remember how many times he caught his dad drunk. The moment that completely shattered his perception of Sam was catching him screwing around on his mom with his assistant.

The only reason why he doesn't hate his new stepmom for it was that she slapped Sam when she found out that he wasn't in the middle of a divorce. Too bad she went back to the idiot after he went back to her crying and begging for forgiveness. Now, his own child was going to be only a few months younger than his new uncle. This family was so screwed up.

Because he despised Sam so much, Landon tried to be the opposite of his father. He worked hard in school and got straight A's. He didn't drink or party at all. Their field of study were a little similar but Landon chose to focus on plants. It probably had something to do with helping his grandmother with her gardens and the farm as a child. He's been dating the same girl for the last year and a half and they didn't even have sex for the first year of that relationship. Madison was his first and only. He took his mom's advice of 'don't have sex with anyone you don't want to raise a child with'.

Also, unlike his father he wasn't going to blame an innocent child for what happened. This was just a series of unfortunate events that led to a good outcome at the wrong time. He and Madison both have another year of undergrad, but at least he had his trust fund and Madison's dad ran a day care center. He was going to kill Landon, if his mom does not do it first regardless of the circumstances.

It was almost on the tip of his tongue to tell his father that he was going to be a granddad yesterday. Landon was planning to say something along the lines of 'unlike you, I'm actually going to be there for my child and I love my child, despite the fact that I wasn't planning to have him or her'. However, considering the fact that just a few hours earlier Landon found out he had an aunt, he didn't want to spring anymore surprises on anyone, until after grandma was buried.

His Grandmother Winona was the only one he told. She got to see the first visual scan of the baby just days before she died. She said she was happy that she lived long enough to sort of be a great-grandmother. She said that he would be a good father. He kind of wished she was still around to help him break the news to everyone. His mom was going to kill him; actually this was probably part of her punishment right now. Small children were scary, especially when they were drawling on the walls with lipstick.

After taking a deep breath he managed to successfully get the little kids away from the makeup and they were now playing something safer in baby JK's room. Currently, he was in the living room trying to get the lipstick off the walls. Despite the fact that T'Mandy was helping him, it wasn't going well. He's pretty sure that the five-year-old has a crush on him. But then again, he's pretty sure that the five-year-old has a crush on his younger brother and uncle. Maybe she just likes humans in general or maybe her family were just naturally attracted to Kirks. At that moment, his girlfriend walked into the room with his new aunt behind her. Considering everything else going on, he has not had time to develop an opinion on the fact that he comes from a long line of cheating bastards.

"I just want to let you know that I think I accidentally just told your future stepfather and uncle that I'm pregnant." She said in a whisper. Unfortunately, the little baby Vulcan obviously heard because her eyebrows were now sky high. After several years of being around his uncle Spock, he can detect Vulcan irritation very easily. Yes the girl had a crush on him and now she was mad.

"How did that happen? You didn't throw up?" He asked before looking at his new aunt who was now standing beside him. He was sure she already knew too because she didn't seem shocked at all.

"I may have twitched a little when your uncle said that he doesn't want to know anything about your sex life and told us to be careful. I also may have asked if unplanned pregnancies were really common in your family? Marcus asked if we needed to talk to your mom about something important." He just put his head in his hands as his new aunt put an arm around him.

"Considering the fact that my mostly gay uncle got someone pregnant with out in vitro and I'm being hugged by aunt I never knew I had until yesterday, I would say yes." He joked when he really wanted to cry. "You already knew?" He asked Marissa.

"Winona told me. She asked me to help you break the news to everyone and thought you could use a supportive family member." He didn't know whether to curse his grandmother or cry. She always tried to take care of everyone else even after death. He went with crying because there was a five-year-old around and he really is trying to work on the being a good parent thing. Again his one goal in life is to not be Sam.

"How angry was everybody?" He asked as he was cut off by a knock at the door. He wasn't surprise considering that most of the population of Riverside has been by in the last week. His grandmother was very popular and well-loved in this town. Maybe, it was the funeral home people with his grandmother.

"Whoever that is I hope they brought more chocolate or maybe alcohol." He said opening the door. Okay, he wasn't expecting to see his freshman year philosophy teacher holding hands with some unknown Vulcan.

She introduced herself as Spock's stepmother and the woman as her girlfriend. He remembered from Vulcan culture class that most Vulcans believe in being completely honest but this was a little too much for his taste. She was there because her husband told her that she needed to spend time with her daughter. Of course Spock's father probably should've told her not to bring her girlfriend. Landon has to give her points for actually coming despite her poor choice of guest. Sam would never have spent time with him even if he could bring his girlfriend.

T'Mandy was not happy to see her. Landon cannot blame her for that when the woman started to explain that her daughter was essentially the product of an arranged marriage for the purposes of producing children and dealing with other biological things that Vulcan do not speak of. Because his mom was an OB/GYN with a Vulcan specialization, he kind of already knew what they were talking about because he's sort of hacked into his mom's medical files one time and was grounded for six months.

Again, Landon will have to give her points because T'Pay actually said, "despite the conditions of your conception, you and your brother are the most important beings in my life, and I love you dearly. Even though your father and I have decided to terminate our marriage we will always love you." His mom said something like that to him after the divorce but he knew she was not being sincere (because only his mom actually loved him).

"I do not believe you." He's pretty sure he saw the five-year-old sniffle as if she was about to cry but his mind was probably playing tricks on him.

Things got really bad after that involving the baby Vulcan throwing her niece's Barbie at the woman and switching into rapid-fire Vulcan. He could only recognize the curse words. Considering it was a five-year-old using those words, he decided it was best for Madison to get Spock. When has uncle showed up he understood why the guy stole his hot chocolate. Uncle Spock's family may just be more fucked up than his. It's a tossup.

* * *

"You know?" Madison asked as soon as she pulled onto the main road. She hasn't said anything to him since he told her where they were going as soon as they got in the car. He was just happy that the hotel agreed not to have Sam arrested for disorderly conduct after he agreed to pay extra for the cleanup efforts. He would like to keep his promise to himself about never visiting the Riverside police station ever again.

"I know now. Good thing you're not in Starfleet you would never survive an interrogation. You twitch too much." He joked.

"Fuck! Please don't tell Akia that I'm pregnant. She's going to probably yell or kill Landon for being irresponsible. He doesn't need this right now. Between losing his grandmother and his father being a complete Dick he can't deal with his mom hating him for something that wasn't his fault." Madison pleaded. Jim thought her points were valid.

"No, I'm not going to tell Akia, mostly because I don't think she can take one more thing right now. Although, you're going to have to face me. Thanks to the effectiveness of modern birth control, most accidental pregnancies are triggered by stupidity or in my case aliens and a cultural misunderstanding. That could probably fall in the category of stupidity too." He joked again. Since the drug brownies are not working, humor was his only defense mechanism.

He was so talking to Spock later about what happened the night the twins were conceived. If Spock lied about remembering what happened, it had to be epically bad (or pornographically good.)

"From what I understand from Landon, we got pregnant about the same way you and your husband accidentally got your friend pregnant. Yes, I know what happened because my boyfriend actually trusts me with everything. In our case, it was accidental exposure to unknown alien plants and being fed fertility drugs without my consent because my roommate is crazy." Good thing he wasn't driving because he probably would have missed a stop sign due to the shock. That's when Madison started to explain exactly what happened. He had new respect for the mother of his future niece or nephew when she told Jim about smacking the roommate upside the head when she found out what happened.

"I told you most accidental pregnancies are caused by stupidity, I didn't say it had to be stupidity on your part. Hopefully, Akia will go into Doctor Mode and be more furious at the roommate for feeding you untested drugs than the fact she's going to be a grandmother before 45. You will make it out of this unscathed. Also because her own shotgun wedding turned out to be so disastrous, Akia would never force that on you." Jim explained. Jim knew his sister-in-law well and her way of coping with the situation like this was to look at it from a purely medical standpoint. For example last night when she found out her ex-husband was cheating on his new wife she started compiling a list of treatment centers they handled alcoholism and sex addiction. She also started researching support groups for new mothers going through messy divorces.

"Good to know; although, I think my father may force the issue. He's a little old fashion. The good thing is at least I got pregnant by somebody that I actually love and can tolerate co-parenting with." She said with a smile.

"That's always a good thing. Trust me I know I lucked out with Nyota. I could've knocked up some conceded scientist who would've hid my child from me." He said remembering another interesting tidbit that other Spock accidentally told him when he was deciding if he and his Spock should have children despite his father-in-law's demands. Nyota was a much better person to accidentally knock up than the alternative. Madison responded by just giving him a really confuse look.

"Things will be okay with Akia. She can't be that angry because that will be hypocritical. However, I think you should give her one of the purple brownies before you tell her." As a parent, Jim believed that drugs were the best way to break this type of news. If this situation ever happened to Amanda he was going to need something to take the edge off.

"I don't think regular chocolate will cut it. It's going to have to be the blue brownies." Madison joked, which confuse Jim.

"I thought the purple ones had the pot?" He distinctly remembered being told to eat the purple brownie but Akia was a little preoccupied at the time.

"No, the blue ones have pot. Although, I've been warned not to have any brownies or cheese crackers at the Kirk family compound just in case there is a mixup. I remember Akia telling me about her wrapping system after Landon's panicked phone call because your sister-in-law started holding hands with everyone and participated in a sing-along. He was worried she ate the wrong brownies. He looked everywhere for the wrapper just in case." She started laughing. Although, that antidote gave him hope that his nephew will do better at the parenting thing than his father ever did.

"That's just great. Spock ate my pot brownie. That explains why he's so mellow despite having an unpleasant phone call with daddy dearest this morning. I'm sure the call was about his pending divorce." At least Jim hoped it was. That had to be an unpleasant conversation. Jim was sure his father-in-law was not happy at becoming the Vulcan equivalent to Liz Taylor. Divorce was taboo in Vulcan culture and he was about to get divorced a second time. At least, the drugs explained why Spock was so mellow this morning.

"Shit! The first thing I learned in pre-med is to never mix your drugs. This is not good." Madison said panicking just as they pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot.

"It's just chocolate and marijuana. Marijuana is like Tylenol on Vulcan." He said not worried.

"He also may have drunk a hot chocolate laced with something from the benzo family. I'm not sure what type of reaction of Vulcan would have. At least, I hope it was just something from the benzo family, I told you about my former roommate who did evil things to my medicine cabinet." Of course, Jim did not hear that last part because he saw his already fucked up brother running around the hotel parking lot naked as he was apprehended by a security bot.

"Just please tell me Landon is nothing like that guy and that stupidity is not genetic." She said almost on the verge of tears.

"Welcome to the family. Don't worry Sam wasn't around long enough to influence his children. I think between Winona and Akia most of the Kirk stupidity gene has been negated." Jim said as he grabbed his phone to call his favorite lawyer.

"That's good." Madison said with her head still in her hands.

It was at that moment Jim actually wished for an insane Romulan or another terrorist. It was really going to be a very long day.


	26. Part II Vulcan Acid Trip

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also thank you to anybody who has left kudos. To get the story done in a little less than two months I'm going to have to focus (especially if they decide to move up the opening date to May 9 in the U.S). That means less updates on my other two stories and no starting new stories. That last one is hard because I have about six great ideas that I'm just itching to get out. I have a really great Easter story that will just have to wait till next year.

Spoilers/warnings for this chapter: For those of you who get freaked out by Nyota and Spock as a couple there is a flashback to when they were together in this chapter. There are also some flashes of exactly how those twins were conceived.

Death at a Starfleet Funeral: Part II Vulcan Acid Trip

* * *

**One Month Post-Battle of Vulcan **

Nyota handed him his dress uniform and for all intents and purposes puts it on for him. Even after having the long journey back to earth to mentally prepare him for his mother's memorial service he was not ready. Spock could never be ready. He wondered what the purpose of this memorial service really was. It was not like they had an actual body to bury. His girlfriend said he needed closure. She also reminded him that she was not able to bury her mother either because of the nature of her death yet they still had a service for her. However Spock wondered if he could find closure at an event where most people did not know the woman that they were mourning or were extremely nasty to her during the course of her life.

He chose to wear his dress uniform because seeing traditional Vulcan morning robes would be too much for him at this juncture. His uniform gave him comfort in a sense of normalcy for an event that was anything but normal. Besides, he will not be able to wear it much longer and he wanted to hold onto this piece of himself for as long as he could.

He had no desire to eat again but Nyota made him. Today it was some earth breakfast cereal referred to as cocoa crispy rice. It was James's idea to give him chocolate laced food once the initial shock wore off and he was forced to deal with the reality of everything. It was essentially the only way he would eat at the moment. Maybe if he was not in such a horrible emotional state, Spock would be more concerned with the fact that someone who supposedly disliked him was so concerned with his nutritional intake. He does not have time to ponder such deep things; he does not have the energy to. Without Nyota and James forcing him to at least go through the motions he wondered if he could survive this. In three days' time, when Enterprise leaves for its official maiden voyage, he will have to find out. (Part of him does not want to find this out.)

He was starting to come to the realization that he would miss both individuals. He thought about the conversation with his other self the day before. 'Do what feels right.' Spock is not entirely sure what the right thing to do is. He needs his friends and he already realized that Jim has the potential to be that at the very least. Maybe it was more than that, a certain treacherous part of his mind whispered.

The service was extremely sullen, which was what he expects for a Vulcan service. He was surrounded by survivors that would have spit upon his mother in life but were currently using her death for the purposes of political posturing. Only her dear friend T'Pay said anything the least bit comforting to Spock. She told Spock that Amanda always knew he loved her greatly without the words.

She tried to speak to Sarek but he was too busy being the constant ambassador and Stoic Vulcan that he always was. He looked at his father, only to see the mask in place or at least it seemed that way at first glance. Underneath there was deep pain in his eyes. Spock recognized this simply because that same dark emotion stared back at him every time he looks in the mirror in the last few days. It was this sense of overwhelming pain and sadness.

Spock was unable to go back to his conversation with T'Pay or with anyone else for that matter. He was not ready to deal with this. Instead he found himself hiding in the coat room away from the fake individuals who cared nothing for his mother. He expected Nyota to follow him but instead it was James. He does not know why James is there but surprisingly he was glad for it.

"I would ask why you feel the need to run and hide in the coat room but funerals have a tendency to be overwhelming." James said with a kind voice. He has only seen the man twice since they have arrived back on earth. On both occasions, Jim has tried to convince Spock to become his first officer.

"How much experience do you have with funerals?" Spock asked not knowing what else to say.

"A lot, unfortunately. I had to attend the funerals of a few classmates that overdosed, a couple of uncles that I barely know, and the Memorial services of my mom's best friend along with her wife, although that was a couple months after the fact. She died…" James stopped suddenly and does not continue. That told Spock that the circumstances around her death were especially painful for James.

"She died in the line of duty?" Spock asked assuming that was most likely considering Winona Kirk was a highly decorated Starfleet Soldier.

"Something like that." James said without elaboration. "I was also at my grandfather's funeral but I don't remember it. I heard the funeral was interesting."

"How can a funeral be interesting?" Spock asked confused. The only human funeral he has ever went to was for his grandfather; that occasion was not interesting, but rather morose.

"My grandmother found out my grandfather was sleeping his way through the male population of the greater Federation when his lover showed up and confessed his great love in front of everyone. She responded by attacking him with a baseball bat. Half the attendance ended up in jail or at least that's what I've been told. I think I was only 18 months at the time." Jim said with a shrug.

"That sounds suspiciously like a film Nyota had me watch one time where one of the actresses looks suspiciously like her." Spock remarked.

"Probably. I don't remember when my dad died although I do remember all the anniversary memorial services. Those are always horrible and mostly filled with people who never knew my father. The night usually ended with my mom getting reacquainted with José Cuervo, Jack Daniels, and Johnny Walker. Too bad they didn't put those resources into finding the bastard that killed him in the first place." James said with bitterness not looking at him.

"I've been told by Nyota that it is illogical to play the what if game." Of course, Spock has been playing that game a lot. He keeps dreaming about all the different ways he could've saved his mom. He also dreams about her coming back to life again.

"You have a very smart girlfriend there. Are you sure you want to leave her behind? You need to become my first officer just so I won't hit on her." Spock is not surprised by his comment. Since he requested to leave Starfleet for personal reasons many individuals have tried to talk him out of that decision including his other self. Of course, this is the first time anybody has used this particular argument. Spock does not want to examine the reasons why he does not like the idea of Jim and Nyota together. That self-examination may tell him something that he is not ready to accept yet.

"I must be there for my people. It is the right thing to do." Spock said absently almost quoting something his father said to him.

"Sometimes doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is a bad thing to do for everyone involved. My brother got this wonderful girl pregnant when he wasn't quite 17 yet, due to a combination of stupidity and hormones. He did the 'right' thing and married her. They have several wonderful children together and she is the leading gynecologist in the Federation."

"What is the point of the story?" Spock asked still confused. "It seemed like there were no consequences to doing the right thing in this situation."

"It's bad when two people are together only for the sake of their children. My brother was never there for his children and I am pretty sure that he's a functioning alcoholic. He and his wife fight all the time and my oldest nephew Landon likes to make excuses to come visit his favorite uncle at Starfleet Academy. He is not even 12 yet and he is convinced his father despises him. Despite my pension for bar fights, I'm the good male role model. Sometimes the right thing to do is not the best thing to do. You can do more from Starfleet." Jim said practically pleading with him.

"The situation is not the same." Spock said weakly not entirely believing himself.

"I know. I think in your case you think you have to go to the colony to be the perfect son in some misguided attempt to make up for some perceived fault on your part. It's not your fault your mom died." Jim said as he grabbed his hand. Spock wondered for a moment if James was aware that they were technically kissing. Spock was unable to say anything in response due to the emotions of comfort he was feeling through the touch.

"You don't need to leave something behind that she knew that you love just to make it up to her because of some misplaced sense of guilt. I know that you loved your mom. I'm sorry that I said otherwise. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm an asshole. You would not be hiding in here if you didn't love her. She would want you to do the best thing for you, not the right thing for someone else."

"Are not those two things the same?" Spock asked already sure of the answer.

"Not always." Jim said stroking his finger one more time before excusing himself.

Three days later, when he found himself requesting permission to board Enterprise, he would deny that his decision was solely based on the sensation of Jim's fingers against his.

* * *

**The Present**

Spock is not surprised that he dreamed of his mother's funeral considering that in less than four hours he will be accompanying James to Winona Kirk's funeral and burial. Jim's pain easily reminded him of those days. They purposely opted not to do a separate viewing as not to prolong the emotional day. The informal visitation two days earlier with random 'family' and members of the admiralty dropping by was painful enough. Spock already knew this day would be difficult for James despite his efforts to stay as calm as possible. Spock knew Jim and Jim was just going through the motions like he did at his mother's Memorial service.

This was different than his mother's funeral and yet it was not. At Amanda's funeral, there was no body to bury and she was one of 6 billion that died on the same day. (Spock was uncertain if the situation was made worse by the existence of the actual body to bury.) There were so many funerals going on at the time that it was difficult to find a venue for his mother's memorial service. His mom was sucked into a black hole with minimal suffering (he hoped). Her funeral was attended by lots of people who didn't know her or cared to know her.

Winona had a long drawn-out sickness and it was a shock to Jim only because he was kept ignorant of the entire situation. She died with family or rather according to Akia the love of her life by her side. She had legions of friends who brought brownies and macaroni casserole who loved her despite her faults. His mother had one real friend at her service.

Yet both services were the final goodbyes for a woman who was loved dearly by her son. Spock remembered feeling numb at his mother's memorial service. He would not have survived without Nyota and James. James was there for him at his mother's funeral when he and James' relationship was in a very precarious state. He knew he needed to provide the same support for James.

Spock felt it was best to just let James sleep in for a while. After everything that happened yesterday with Sam, Spock was well aware his husband only fell asleep the night before due to various activities of a sexual nature that occurred in the car before arriving back to the farmhouse and doing the same thing up against the bathroom wall. Jim needed rest and therefore Spock felt it was best to leave a nearly naked Jim in bed to sleep.

He got dressed quietly in his uniform which again reminded him way too much of his own mother's funeral. He laid out Jim's dress uniform because Jim needed something normal to hold onto right now. After placing a gentle kiss on James' brow Spock found his way to the kitchen and the container of hot chocolate on the vintage stove. He overheard Landon and his girlfriend conversing in hushed tones but Spock could still here the conversation. Apparently, James is going to be a great uncle before his 35th birthday. This revelation is why he decided to have some of the hot chocolate on the stove.

He decided it was best to leave after he grabbed some saltines and ginger ale. Due to Vulcan hearing he could hear Nyota regurgitating in the downstairs bathroom and felt it would be best to bring her something to settle her stomach. He was worried about who will take care of her during her forced stay on earth, but he knows that Dr. McCoy will be an adequate caretaker for her in his absence.

"Is the morning sickness still severe?" He asked finding her bottle of mouthwash and handing it to her.

"This is actually an improvement. This is the first time in the last 12 hours." She said taking the mouthwash from him.

"Leonard said I should be happy because throwing up is supposedly a sign of a healthy pregnancy." She said as she took the offered can of ginger ale.

"You spent the night with him?" He asked already knowing the truth by the way she avoided eye contact.

"We just slept in the same bed. It's not like I'm up to doing the things I heard you doing." She said with a smile and his mind flashes back to her between him and James, completely naked and in a state of ecstasy. Him coming inside of her as Jim bites his shoulder. He shook his head as if to shake away the image. Spock is not sure if he's remembering what happened or he's starting to pick up on Jim's sexual fantasies again. It seemed too real to be a mere fantasy because he can smell her perfume and taste her essence on his lips.

"You heard that?" He said coming back to the moment.

"Everyone did. Are you okay with me and Leonard dating?" She asked surprising him. Nyota rarely asked for his opinion regarding her personal life. If she did, Spock would have cautioned her in regards to her relationship with Mr. Scott. In Spock's opinion, Leonard was far more preferable. Spock doubted that Leonard would ever cheat on her.

"Why would my opinion on the matter have any bearing? Contrary to popular assumption we have not been in a romantic relationship for nearly 8 years." He told her as a joke of sorts.

"Except for the occasional threesome and drunk make out session." She joked triggering another vision of that night. The current vision obviously takes place earlier in the night because everyone is still wearing clothing. Nyota was talking about how much she missed being around Amanda as a baby and how she doesn't think she's ever going to have that again. At that moment Jim brings up Alexis's suggestion that they engage in sexual intercourse together for the sole purpose of getting Nyota pregnant. In the vision Nyota starts crying and both Jim and Spock wrapped their arms around her. Nyota talked about how she never expected to find someone who will love her, especially after the Mr. Scott incident, mostly because she was afraid to. She also talked about missing regular sex. Jim asked him mentally if it was okay to make her feel better. Considering how long they've been together, Spock knew exactly what he was asking. He nodded his head in agreement and that's when Jim kissed her. Spock followed moments behind.

"You're my best friend." Nyota said breaking him free of the memory. "Actually, I don't think that accurately describes our relationship, since we have children together. My grandma used to say marriage is temporary, children are forever. Unlike anyone else, I actually care what you and Jim think." He was honored that she thought of him that way.

"Doctor McCoy is a man of great honor and I hold him in very high esteem." It was left unsaid that Leonard was much more honorable than certain other former boyfriend stat Spock does not like very much. "He will make an adequate stepfather someday. How many times was that particular grandmother married?" He asked before she panicked because of his earlier statement.

"Legally not at all, but she did live with the same two guys for 60 years. She firmly believed in polyandry and saw marriage as merely a legal arrangement that could be dissolved at any time. I can't disagree with her on that point because I think I would only do it for tandem assignments. Honestly, I'm not 100% sure which one is my biological grandfather. It was a unique family unit." She said not looking at him. He doesn't understand why she's ashamed because her family does not seem any stranger than his.

"That explained the questions I received from your father at my wedding to James." Her father did not believe that Amanda Kirk was created via genetic engineering even after she was born. He just assumed that Amanda was just very light with dark curly hair.

"Do I want to know?" She asked with a sad smile most likely thinking about her ill father.

"Do you still want me to accompany you to San Francisco in 3.2 days time?" He asked avoiding her question and she allowed it with only a small sigh.

"Yes. I'm going to need you there to help me talk to my dad. Maybe we should all go; I think Jim can't take too much more of Iowa." Spock nodded in agreement. He was personally surprised that the events of the day before with Sam did not push Jim over the edge. He wasn't sure how much more family togetherness James could take before he exploded.

"Although, your sister is enjoying her quality Kirk time. You know that she has a crush on two of your nephews now?" Nyota asked mimicking his normal facial expression for curiosity.

"Better than my husband." He said with an actual sigh. Nyota seemed disconcerted by this action because he rarely gave into his more human impulses.

"I hate to interrupt this precious family moment but your father is calling." Spock was almost tempted to groan at Akia's words because he had no desire to speak with his father.

Spock's relationship with Sarek has always been complicated, despite his most recent interactions showing him that yes his father really does love him and his younger siblings. Considering the day that lies ahead, he wasn't sure if he has the emotional energy to speak with his father.

He was not that surprised that his father called this morning. He has spoken with T'Mandy multiple times to reassure her that he actually cared and that she did not exist solely for repopulation purposes. Jim is convinced that he is jealous of his sister because their father openly shows emotion to her when he was more distant during Spock's childhood. However, he was surprised that his father actually wanted to speak with him and not his sister or granddaughter. He should've known that the conversation was going to be grave in nature because of that.

Initially the conversation was only slightly uncomfortable as Sarek actually thanked him for the pictures of his brother and sister playing in the snow and asked if Amanda and Nyota have made it safely to earth. He even inquired as to how James was doing and again offered his condolences. Normally, Spock would find this the most shocking part of the conversation, if it were not for what his father said next.

"T'Pay and I have mutually decided to dissolve our marriage." Anyone else would assume that his father blurted those words out without any emotion whatsoever but he knew better. There was a flicker of sadness in his father's eyes that he only remembered seeing at his mother's memorial service. This caused Spock to be worried for his father and question his sanity.

"You informed me seven days previously that your marriage was necessary for political reasons, in addition to certain medical needs. Why have you decided to dissolve the marriage now?" Spock asked confused.

"The arrangement is no longer optimal. T'Mandy is aware of the true state of things and therefore feels unloved because of it. When he is old enough to understand, I am sure Sonnick will experience similar emotions. I was also completely unaware of T'Pay's feelings for her lover. It is best for the emotional well-being of the entire family to terminate the current arrangement." Spock realized that his word choice was deliberate and he was obviously not telling Spock something of great importance.

"She is in love with this person." Spock said this as a statement not a question.

"Yes and after losing Amanda in the manner that I did, I felt that it would be illogical for me to stand in the way of that." Spock was tempted to mention all the things his father did to try to keep him for marrying James but he was now under the impression that his father did that merely because he wanted him back on the colony.

"What about the Council?" Spock asked worried. As much as he is now aware his father loves his children, a part of him is sure his father loves the Council more.

"Alexis is a very remarkable woman." His father said as the tone of his voice changed slightly and he saw a flicker of something in his father's eyes that he never expected to see again after his mother's death. His father only described his mother in such terms. "She reviewed the rules of the Council and discovered a loophole as they would say on earth." Spock is not surprised. If anybody can find a way around obscure Vulcan law it would be Alexis. She is one of the best lawyers in Starfleet.

"What did she find?" Spock asked simply.

"It was necessary for me to Marry/bond and have children; however, there is no requirement to stay married. In light of pertinent facts, I feel that it's best to terminate the marriage because it is no longer necessary." There was something his father was not saying but Spock was too scared to ask.

"So you're terminating your bond for T'Pay and T'Mandy sake? I am under the impression that a broken bond is very painful." Spock said hoping that he will never have to endure that pain himself.

"Did you just use a contraction?" Spock was starting to wonder if he should not have consumed chocolate so early in the morning. His speech patterns were already becoming affected.

"I am around humans, it is best to adopt their vernacular." He said simply. "What about other biological needs?" Even though he doesn't always get along with his father, Spock still desires for him to live a long and healthy life.

"I was informed yesterday that the arrangement came about because Amanda made T'Pay promise that she would do anything necessary to keep me from entering into a loveless marriage." Spock is not shocked except for the fact that he's hearing something that sounded like irritation in his father's voice. This seemed like something his mother would have done. It also seemed highly probable that T'Pay would sacrifice her own happiness for a promise to Amanda. They were very close.

"Yet that occurred anyway." Spock said darkly.

"No, it did not. Although many Vulcans do not have friends, I consider T'Pay a great friend and I care for her greatly. Yet, our friendship is not what it once was. For the sake of our friendship I felt that our marriage must be dissolved however our bond will stay intact. It was always one of friendship." Spock is surprised to hear this even though he knew that such a bond could be used for Pon Farr. That is the type of bond that Nyota has with his counterpart. Actually, if he was being honest that was the type of bond he had with her as well. It was a rare type of bond among the Vulcan people that it could be used during someone's time.

"Alexis shared an old saying of her mother-in-law's with me 'marriage is temporary, children are forever'. We will always be connected and it is best that things in amicably." The Vulcan said, avoiding eye contact.

"But why make this decision now?" Spock asked well aware that his father should have realized these consequences in the beginning.

"After being married to your mother for so long, I too am prone to making decisions based on things other than logic. I knew my relationship with T'Pay was different than the one I had with Amanda but I did not realize what was truly going on until I had your marriage with James to compare it to." Spock is slightly shocked that his father is praising his relationship with James in any way.

"Interplanetary space travel gives one a lot of time to think and I came to the conclusion this change is necessary to keep things as amicable as possible." Spock asked several more questions about what would happen because he was worried about his sister and brother. They may not have been raised together but he does care about his two younger siblings. He still cares, even if treats his siblings more like his children or nephews. Considering how strange his relationship with his older brother was, that may be best. Despite how bad Jim and Sam's relationship was, Spock is certain Sam has never actually tried to kill him. He could not say the same for his deceased sibling.

"How will you handle the custody situation? Although, it appears that the prejudice on the new colony is not as bad as it was during my childhood, marriage to a human and divorce are not completely culturally acceptable. It may be more practical for T'Pay to relocate to earth after the semester is over with." Spock said pointing out an unfortunate fact.

"Your logic is sound." Again, that was something that he was never expecting to hear from his father. "I have been approached multiple times to be the Vulcan representative to Earth and the Federation because of my experience in the diplomatic arena and with human culture." Spock was sure this was a roundabout way of saying that because Sarek was married to a human at one point they believe him to be more approachable. "I feel that it may be best to accept the position."

"Why?" Spock asked curiously. Although even he realized that a planet base assignment that doesn't require travel would be more advantageous for a single parent.

"Your sister has informed me that you are to become an Admiral and therefore will be reassigned to earth. It makes more sense for the entire family to be together. I want to see my new grandchildren more than once every two or three years." Spock actually opened his mouth wide in shock because he never expected his father to say anything of such a magnitude. His father was slightly taken aback by this visible show of emotion.

The conversation ended a few minutes later after his father made Spock promise not to tell either of his siblings what has happened so Sarek and T'Pay could do so when he arrived on earth in one week's time. Spock believed it's going to be extremely difficult in light of the fact that he was also informed that his soon-to-be former stepmother will be arriving later that day so that she may spend quality time with her children. His siblings were quite intelligent despite their age, they would know if they were anything like their niece.

His daughter Amanda always knew when he and Jim were arguing with one another. She was very in tune with their moods. She always knew when something wasn't quite right. Months earlier when James got himself in sick Bay for doing something stupid Amanda knew what happened in spite of everybody trying to keep Jim's exact condition from her.

Spock was pretty sure the prospect of a confrontation between her sister and T'Pay was the major contributing factor in him consuming the other brownie when Akia gave James his medication for the morning. That may have also been why certain activities occurred in the bathroom before the funeral planning meeting.

He forgot about the conversation with his father and the prospect of his stepmother coming to visit during this as James laid out his strategy for the afternoon. That was mostly because he finds the prospect of spending time with the elder Mrs. Kirk disconcerting. The only female that he finds less pleasant was his foster son's biological mother. If Mrs. Kirk hits him with her purse again he will not fill remorse for utilizing the nerve pinch on her. Spock is sure she will when she finds out about the new grandchildren if she has not already been informed from the tabloids. Spock believed that James deserved close physical contact for arranging for Christopher to deal with the unpleasant woman. He was planning another foray in the upstairs bathroom as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, he was forced to deal with T'Pay just as he was informed that Doctor McCoy will not be able to stay with Nyota for the remainder of her pregnancy. When he realized that T'Pay believed it would be in her daughter's best interest to tell her right away about her parent's pending divorce as well as bring her girlfriend for her daughter to meet for the first time, he swiped Landon's hot chocolate. He needed chocolate libations to get through this conversation and the hot chocolate was having an instant calming effect on him. He would need it because James had other things to deal with.

According to the mental message Spock just received Jim would be going to retrieve Sam because he did something that would get him incarcerated if not for a portion of Amanda's college fund going to the hotel. Jim was also bringing Landon's girlfriend with him for her own protection. From that comment alone Spock was sure his husband was well aware that he was to become a great uncle soon.

He personally believed that his sister's decision to throw a Barbie at her mother was well advised. There were many times as a child that he wished he could have thrown something at his father or more accurately his half-brother when they acted overly logical at the expense of Spock's feelings.

Spock could feel his sister's distress without even touching her. She was hurt and angry and felt worthless. She also blamed herself for the demise of her parent's marriage. As a parent he knew the best course of action was to get his sister out of the room and therefore asked Landon to take T'Mandy in the kitchen for a late breakfast.

Spock had to repress the urge to render his soon-to-be former stepmother unconscious as they discussed how honesty is not always best dealing with the five-year-old child. Despite being completely Vulcan, he knew his sister felt pain and heartbreak. Unlike him, she was socialized not to find all emotions illogical. Of course, T'Pay was tired of lying to her oldest child and felt that it was time for complete honesty.

"I don't think this is the best time to continue this conversation, especially in light of the fact that the funeral will take place in 74.3 minutes. Emotions are running high." He said looking directly at his stepmother. Because she is a reasonable individual, she did not question his word choice in this instance. "You may stay here for Winona Kirk's funeral service or depart."

"You are correct. This is not the time or place for such a conversation." T'Pay said in acquiescence as the woman who Spock assumed to be her lover grabbed her hand.

"We will walk around the facilities and come back so that we may offer our condolences to James in person." Spock was tempted to ask her not to bring her girlfriend with her but decided to say nothing in an effort to keep the peace.

Spock was half tempted to have a bowl of the chocolate rice cereal when he entered the room. Normally he would chastise his nephew for giving his sister a chocolate cereal but considering she just found out her parents were getting a divorce, a little chocolate will not hurt her.

"I had breakfast 92.3 minutes ago. The last time father Let me have anything with chocolate was when mother scheduled an off planet conference during my birthday. For my fifth Birthday I had a chocolate chip birthday cake. I guess she was off with her." T'Mandy said as she had another spoon of the rice cereal obviously referring to her mother's girlfriend. He could still feel T'Mandy emotions without physical contact. They may need to do some meditation exercises after the funeral.

"It will not hurt for you to have a snack and there is not much chocolate in this." He said quietly. "It is not your fault. Both of your parents love you very much and you do not just exist for repopulation purposes." He said trying to reassure her.

"I do not believe you. I know that father loves you more because you are Amanda's child. I am going upstairs to read." His sister said pushing her bowl away and getting up from the kitchen table. He was going to follow her until Akia arrived in the kitchen in time to scream at Landon.

"How the fuck could you have gotten Madison pregnant?" Akia asked screaming as the room became very bright. He could see Marcus running behind her.

"It was an accident and no I didn't lie about being on the contraceptive shot like a certain sperm donor of mine." Landon shouted back. For some reason he looked purple at that moment. Also, the flowers on the wallpaper were currently dancing around the room.

"Then how exactly did I become a grandmother before 50?" Akia shouted as the flowers in the room started singing.

"Did you know that some alien plants can render the shot completely inactive?" Landon said sheepishly. Actually he looked like a sheep at that moment.

"Oh fuck, that was you!" Her voice became distant and that was the last thing Spock remembered hearing before things went black.

* * *

Considering his line of work, Spock was very familiar with sick bay and hospital rooms in general. He has visited medical facilities on 18 separate planets and yet they all are very similar in appearance. Although, unlike the sick Bay on Enterprise, this room was decorated in purple with daisies covering the walls and a chart regarding self-breast examinations. Also the bed was significantly more comfortable. This told him that he was probably in Akia's medical offices.

"Why am I in a medical facility?" Spock asked no one in particular.

"Good, you're finally awake." Doctor McCoy said angrily as he smacked Spock upside the head. "How many times have I told you not to eat or drink anything without scanning it first you green blooded idiot? You would think after getting Nyota pregnant due to drugs in the food, you would know better!" The doctor chastised Spock again as he smacked Spock a second time.

"What was the purpose of physical violence? Also, your warning is only applicable to hostile environments." Spock doubted he would be poisoned at Jim's childhood home but considering he was currently in the medical wing of the compound it was a possibility. He would not be surprised if grandmother Kirk would do such a thing.

"Good the drugs are out of your system and you are back to your logical self." Dr. McCoy said sounding almost relieved. "Apparently my warning is also applicable to any time you are around your in-laws. They have a tendency to keep drugged food around."

"The only mind altering substances I have consumed in the last 24 hours is chocolate. Because I am half human the substance does not have a great impact on me." It acted more like a mild sedative in him.

"That's what you think. The pot brownies that you accidentally consumed did a really good job of getting that stick out of your Vulcan ass. I should've known something was wrong when you started hugging all of Jim's family, including the old bitter bitch. You practically gave the woman a heart attack because you're mostly gay and not human." Spock was sure the Doctor was referring to James grandmother but Spock did not remember hugging anybody.

"Akia told James that the brownies in the purple bags contained marijuana therefore it would be safe to eat the brownies in the blue bags."

"She was trying the placebo effect on the idiot not thinking you would go searching for chocolate. Although, considering the conversation you most likely had with your father about his Vulcan midlife crisis I could understand why you went straight for the chocolate." The doctor quipped.

"Marijuana is not an illegal substance for Vulcans. It is a pain medication. It should not have induced unconsciousness or hallucinations. I distinctly remember singing flowers in the kitchen during Akia's argument with Landon before everything went black." Dr. McCoy decided to use various curse words at that point.

"Oh hell! That was about six hours ago! You only lost consciousness about two hours ago right after Marissa and Sam got in a fight that resulted in Winona's coffin getting overturned. Also about that time the ex-husbands started to beat each other up." He did not remember any of this. If it was anyone else, Spock would not believed him but the doctor does not lie. It was highly probable that these individuals got in a fight at a funeral.

"What happened?" Spock asked closing his eyes.

"Never mix your drugs especially when you have special as a snowflake physiology. You experience that good old cumulative effect. Also never take somebody else's drink. That hot chocolate you drank supposedly had something from the benzoate family in it. It wasn't according to the toxicology which is a good thing if you accidentally gave some to Jim. We're not sure what you accidentally drank." Spock just closed his eyes.

"What else happened?" Spock asked with concern.

"A lot. Again we should've known something was going on before Jim finally told us about Madison's suspicions that you were completely stoned. Hell, you were using contractions like crazy. You being drugged is the only possible explanation for you nerve pinching a 80-year-old geriatric and starting a sing-along during the middle of what was supposed to be a somber occasion. The only thing that saved you was you sang 'You Are Not Alone' and everyone went into tears. You also tried to sit in Jim's lap during the funeral and you may have asked Alexis if she was interested in sleeping with your father." There was no way he would do any such thing at a funeral. Although, he may have asked that last question in private.

"I did no such thing." That's when Dr. McCoy handed him a PADD containing a video file of him singing a 20th century Michael Jackson song.

"There's also video footage of you calling Admiral Chicken a Dick, fortunately he was too stupid to realize that you were calling him that and not just saying his nickname." Spock was not sure he wanted to ever see that footage.

"Do I want to know what else happened?" He asked dubiously.

"Not really, although you scared the littlest Vulcans." The Doctor said most likely referring to Amanda.

"Is Amanda okay?" Spock asked worried about his daughter.

"Your little girl is fine because she's sort of used to you and Jim doing stupid shit. Unfortunately, your new son is used to drugged out parents. It's your sister that was really freaked out. Nyota will be bringing her to the room in a minute." That's when Spock realized that James wasn't sitting by his bed. Usually when Spock was in this situation James was right there unless he was also incapacitated.

"Where is James?" He asked.

"The Riverside police station." Spock did not have time to ask additional questions because his sister was hugging him and Dr. McCoy left the room because a woman who sounded suspiciously like Jim's sister-in-law started screaming down the Hall.

To be continued

* * *

I discovered that trying to write a Vulcan acid trip is very difficult and this is not even the first time I have written a scene with Spock hallucinating. That's why I decided to FlashForward.

As soon as I post this I'm going to start working on the new chapter. Reviews will make me sit at my computer longer and keep writing, instead of doing something like clean my apartment.


	27. Of Eulogies and Bail Money

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also thank you to for finally letting you tag more than two characters (I can't wait till it actually works the way it's supposed to). In the story, I think Nyota is just as crucial as Jim and Spock. The last couple of chapters of this story will belong to her. That's the only clue I'm going to give regarding the endgame.

**Death at a Starfleet Funeral part III: of Eulogies and Bail Money**

* * *

Jim Kirk spent the majority of his youth and early adulthood at the Riverside city jail. So much so that he knew that Friday was homemade pie day. He did a lot of stupid things that resulted in incarceration, including the incident with the car and the ravine, the breaking of the nose of a classmate that called him that F word (more than once), various bar fights, multiple counts of public nudity or intoxication, and he has lost count of all the times he was picked up on suspicion of hacking (not that they could ever prove it because he was good at hiding his tracks). He knew a lot of the human officers by name along with a few of the security bots. Of course, he finds it surreal that many of the same officers were now asking for his autograph. He also finds it deeply ironic that the Street where the police station is was named after him (Jim Kirk Boulevard). He wondered if that was the mayor's idea of a joke. Considering Jim dated her son (or was it her daughter), it probably was some witty comeback. That was the problem with being a serial 'dater' in a small town, everybody sleeps with everyone else. There's a reason why 10 cases of cervical cancer occurred in Riverside.

Too bad the newly graduated officer assigned to restore order at the great Kirk funeral disaster of 2267 didn't know him (although Jim thinks he may have 'dated' his sister) and decided to bring Jim in anyway, even though his only offense was trying to keep his brother, sister, and surrogate sister from beating the hell out of each other. Considering that he wasn't even booked when they arrived at the station just showed how stupid his arrest was. He is not even that upset except for the fact he's away from his sick husband. He hates not being with Spock when he is unconscious.

He was currently in the waiting area driving Bones crazy by sending an email asking about Spock every ten minutes as he waited for his favorite lawyer to show up for the second time this day to get various Kirks out of jail. How the hell did Sam manage to get arrested twice in the same day? Jim only did it one time and it involved pissing off two separate delegations at the same conference. Jim doesn't really count this because it was a work thing.

In all honesty, he had been tempted to let his brother stay in lockup this morning and only got him out of jail because he didn't want his brother to miss out on Winona's funeral. He may have been a little upset about what his brother said the night before. Considering how bad his brother was acting out (running around the Holiday Inn parking lot naked, getting drunk at Starbucks, and getting into physical fights with his children), he needed closure more than anyone else.

Now that he was sitting here waiting for Alexis to work her magic one more time to get most of his family out of lockup, he realized that his kindness was a mistake. This was Sam's fault. Okay, an altercation probably would've occurred regardless, because the guest list for his mother's funeral was a bloodbath waiting to happen, despite his careful planning to avoid this. Let's be honest, if it wasn't for Spock going unconscious when the mêlée started, Jim probably would have done something worth actually being arrested for instead of just being brought in because the arresting officer was a dick. That's probably the only reason why Bones is not there as well (although, it didn't help Akia). Both wanted to knock Admiral chicken Dick unconscious for his little snide comments at today's service. (He does have footage of Nyota throwing up on the moronic admiral's shoes to help keep him in a happy place.) However, Jim doubted the police would have been called in if it wasn't for Sam throwing Marissa into his mother's coffin. Considering he's going to be here a while, he should probably start this fucked up story at the beginning.

Everything started this morning with the cyber cop robot picking up his brother for disorderly conduct, distruction of private property, public nudity, public intoxication, assault of a corrections robot, and being an asshole in general. That last one was not an actual charge, but it should have been. Now, because Jim has been arrested more times than he can count, and at least third at those times have happened after he became a Starfleet Captain, he has learned the importance of calling his lawyer right away. Fortunately for Jim, said lawyer loved him to pieces and was already on her way to Riverside to be there for the funeral.

The only reason why Alexis didn't come straight here yesterday was because she needed to check up on her husband (and maybe get some time away from her daughter to collect her sanity). He could understand her not wanting to leave her sick husband alone for too long, considering that he personally hated being away from Spock right now when he was unconscious due to whatever the hell drugs he was accidentally given. Jim is so going to get back at the idiot that tried to arrest him for no reason whatsoever.

Alexis, being the miracle worker that she truly was, managed to get Sam released for Winona's funeral on the condition that they bring him right back after the service (her ashes will be scattered the next day). Jim was sure it had something to do with him signing autographs for the judge's daughter and his daughter's grandmother wearing a very low cut dress, but whatever worked. At the time, Jim was sure he could keep his brother under control for a few hours.

He thought things would go okay once he managed to get Sam in a suit and Bones gave him "sobriety in a hypo." He may have gotten a certain amount of glee when he saw Bones stab Sam a little bit harder than what was absolutely necessary. Maybe he should have had Bones give him "sanity in a hypo" or possibly "don't be an asshole in a hypo" (if such a thing existed). They say hindsight is 20/20.

Because Sam's funeral parlor friend got lost with their mother's body and therefore the funeral started two hours late, Sam had time to cause more chaos, including finding his ex-wife's liquor cabinet and getting into arguments with various family members. Jim foolishly thought that because this was going to be a dry funeral he didn't have to watch his brother's beverage intake. He really should have checked to see if Sam was really drinking real iced tea as opposed to Long Island iced tea. By the time he figured it out, Sam was already completely drunk again and you can only use "sobriety in a hypo" once in a 24-hour period.

The first moment of completely funeral-inappropriate conduct happened when Sam found out he was going to be a grandfather because Akia thought she should let her ex-husband know that his son was the victim of evil medical experiments and alien plants when he started to get touchy-feely. His response was to call Madison a whore who was going to ruin Landon's life just like Akia ruined his life by getting pregnant. Landon was pissed off and responded with "you ruined your own fucking life by being a selfish prick that only cared about getting off. Unlike you, I actually care about my children and will be a real father, instead of the sperm donor. I would call you a son of a bitch, but that would be disrespectful to the woman who actually helped raise me, unlike you. Grandma Winona taught me how to be a real man, because you were too busy living in the bottle to give a fuck. Do the world a favor and get snipped."

Fortunately for everyone involved, Landon was much more concerned with his crying girlfriend and followed her out of the living room, instead of punching out his father. Even Jim thinks that the man deserved to get knocked unconscious for that. The whole exchange was made worse by the fact that it happened in front of all of Sam's children. Nothing like having your 16-year-old son ask you if you ever actually loved him to make the world's most uncomfortable funeral much more uncomfortable.

The next altercation involved grandma Kirk smacking Sam with her purse when Jim may or may not have told his grandma all about Sam screwing around on his pregnant wife. Okay, so Jim was a little tired of grandma saying nice things about Sam because he was the perfect little heterosexual and Jim was the devil himself because he had a husband. Grandma did not like gay people (including her own grandson), but she hated adulterers (no one had had the heart to tell her the real reason why his marriage to Akia went up in flames). Let's just say grandma Kirk can hit and Sam was going to be covered in bruises from her white bag the next day. The whole thing was diffused by Spock administering a nerve pinch on grandma. Considering all the nasty things that she had said to his husband, Jim can't blame him. Everyone else was shocked, but Jim sort of saw it coming. Spock may have the patience of a saint, but he could only take so much.

Of course, if he wasn't preoccupied with Sam making a complete fool of himself, he would have remembered to tell Bones about Spock possibly being high on pot, chocolate, and possibly something from the benzo family. (He was never eating anything with his family again without scanning it for allergens or drugs first.) When Spock started singing, after giving Jim a reason to stand behind the podium during his eulogy, he sincerely regretted not telling anybody that Spock may have been stoned. Other than the contractions and the hugging, his husband wasn't acting that weird in Jim's opinion, but that's probably because Jim was used to Spock being less than his perfect stuck up Vulcan self in private. He just thought that the chocolate and pot (?) were allowing Spock to be more comfortable in public. Again, he was too distracted by Sam being an asshole to see that his husband was stoned out of his Vulcan mind.

Sitting through people saying nice things about his mom was already going to be difficult (especially because some of the speakers such as Frank and Charles were complete pricks). It was made worse by Sam's antics.

During the actual eulogy part of the ceremony, Sam may have called Marissa a couple of words that Jim will not repeat. He also called Charles a murderer along with several choice synonyms for penis. He may have also tried to rush the stage when Frank talked about how much he really loved Winona, complete with fake tears. The only reason why he held Sam back was that he didn't want Sam to get arrested again for beating up the lowlife (partially because Jim wanted to kick his ass himself.) Of course, he probably should've paid more attention to the other stepdads who were ready to beat Frank senseless.

After his husband's impromptu sing-along and Damien breaking down in tears as he called Winona the love of his life, it was time for Jim to give his eulogy. This was not something he was looking forward to. He had given a lot of speeches in his career, even at gun/phaser point, but this was a lot harder. In between fun "getting fucked up against the wall by husband" time he was able to write something.

"I didn't always get along with my mom. What kid ever does? But she always cared about me even when I didn't see it. She would do anything to keep Sam and me safe. Yes, she made some bad decisions, but she always did the best she could. Now that I'm raising a little girl, I realize how hard raising a child really is, and I have two wonderful co-parents." Everyone giggled politely at that. "She really didn't have anybody but her friends and the occasional not-an-asshole husband." Three of the stepfathers stopped laughing at that. Actually, they started arguing among themselves. If Jim had known that was going to happen, he probably would have left that line out of the eulogy, because maybe then he would've actually finished it.

Actually, he should've left out that reference to Nyota, because Sam made some snide comment about him screwing around with her, which resulted in Marissa telling him to shut the hell up so they could pay their respects to one of the most wonderful women that she had ever met. Sam then said something about her not needing to be there because she wasn't real family. At this point, Jim abandoned his preplanned eulogy and tried to talk about how his mother always cared for everyone, but he was cut off by Marissa.

"I have a hell of a lot more right to be here then you do. I was here for your mom during the worst of her cancer. I held her hand through chemo and losing her hair. You were off on some planet dealing with your early midlife crisis," Marissa spat out bitterly as she started to shake.

"Oh shut up. Where are your recriminations for my brother who has a husband and a girlfriend? He wasn't here either," Sam said with just enough slurring to make Jim shut his eyes on the podium.

"Because Winona didn't want him to be the martyr that he always is, just like her. He would have been here to drive her to every appointment and generally drive her crazy because Jim's that type of guy. But she didn't want him to be miserable here on earth." Her words made Jim realize that his mom was always too self-sacrificing.

"Of course, she did not want him to be miserable. Mom always loved her little Jimmy bear. She didn't give a fuck about me. I know I'm not even in her will, even though daddy's little supposed bastard is. Thanks mom," he said, raising his hand as if he were toasting someone, as half those in attendance started to exchange startled glances.

Jim was sincerely hoping that no tabloid reporters were at the funeral (or that none of the fake family sold this story to the press to make a few credits). Jim was sure a story about George Kirk's illegitimate daughter was going to be everywhere tomorrow. So much for keeping that a secret. It seem like his entire life seemed to play out constantly on the net. By that point, Jim knew this funeral was an absolute disaster and not the stoic sendoff that he wanted Winona to have.

"That's probably the only reason why you're mad." Marissa said as fat tears continued to fall down her cheeks. "You can have the fucking money and my shares in the restaurant. I don't care. I just want her to not be dead," Marissa said, getting up from her seat and making her way towards Jim at the front again.

"Winona was a good woman. She wasn't perfect, but she loved you and your brother. She loved her grandchildren. I think she even cared about me, even though I was a constant reminder that her first husband was a bastard. She was like a mom to me," Marissa said in a whisper that only Jim could hear. He quickly wrapped an arm around her. He could feel her tears. He wanted to cry too. He just wanted her back. He loved his mom so much.

"It looks like you have a new fuck toy," Sam said with a snicker that had both his current and former wives cringing. Marissa's boyfriend looked ready to attack, but was held back by his daughter. Damien didn't say anything because he was currently screaming at Charles and Frank as Pike was trying to get everybody to calm the fuck down. Spock was strangely quiet. Jim was ready to punch Sam, but was beat to it by his easily angered sister. She reminded him a lot of Nyota when she went up to Sam and hit him so hard that he fell out of his seat. She was definitely a Kirk.

"He is my brother you sick fuck, even if you don't want to believe it. Were you on the other hand are just some idiot I have the misfortune of sharing DNA with. If your daddy lived, he would be so ashamed of you. I know your mother was," Marissa said with pure venom, as she stood above him. Sam was up in on his feet in seconds and pushed Marissa into their mother's casket, causing Winona's body to fall onto the ground. Jim almost felt like throwing up.

"Take that back you evil bitch," Sam said, now standing over her as he stared down at Marissa with dead eyes.

Marissa's boyfriend was out of his seat in seconds to help his girlfriend, along with their super strong daughter. Jim was frozen as he saw the dead body of his mother on the floor. Adding to the chaos of that moment was the fact that the little kids decided it was time to see what was going on. He seriously wondered how expensive the therapy bills were going to be in regards to the fact that the first and only time Amanda saw her grandmother was in the form of her dead body sprawled out on the floor after her uncle and aunt caused her casket to overturn.

Of course, everything else went away when he saw his husband fall on the floor. Jim was panicking because Spock doesn't just fall over like that. T'Mandy was also panicking. Sunk just stood there completely numb until Chris pushed him out of the way of the fighting stepdads. From what he was told after the fact from Sgt. Jenny, things pretty much descended into chaos after that and he's very thankful that Akia had suggested that they search everybody for weapons before they came into the service.

Everything gets blurry after that as Bones and Akia dealt with Spock. He's okay. It helped that he passed out in front of several doctors and within 20 meters of a world-class medical Center. In Jim's mind, it made perfect sense that he completely forgot about his fighting brother and sister and focused on his sick husband. The first thing he really remembered was Madison crying on his shoulder because she believed this was all her fault. Jim personally blames her roommate for screwing with all her pills. Then again, it could be the pregnancy hormones and having to deal with this insane family.

"Are all Kirk family events this crazy?" she asked as she started to cry a little bit less. "This was like something out of a movie or a soap opera."

"Yes. Unfortunately, this family is pretty soap-opera-like. The only family, real or fictional, that may be more screwed up than us are the Ewings and that's only because they've done about 18 reboots of that show. Their funerals also involved fights breaking out," Jim said, closing his eyes, wishing this was all a dream.

"Again, can I say how sorry I am about the spiked hot chocolate," Madison said again, just as Akia came out of the room with a half-smile. That told Jim that things were going to be okay.

"Considering Spock is breathing on his own and will regain consciousness as soon as we flush everything out of his system, I personally am going to not be that mad at you. I mean, he wasn't even the worst behaved person at this thing," she said in a kind voice, probably realizing that the pregnant girl would go off at any little thing.

"No, the worst behaved was Sam or maybe Frank," Jim said bitterly, hearing cop sirens in the background. Of course, the police were called in.

"I am going to go with Charles, who brought a date," Akia said with a snicker before asking the question that was on Jim's mind. "Why exactly did you think it was a good thing to give your boyfriend Xanax without telling him?"

"I didn't know that my Xanax supply was compromised. I haven't taken it for a while. Although, I didn't know my birth control pills were compromised." Jim decided it was time to go see his husband because he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the rest of this particular conversation. He hated seeing Spock unconscious, but he was reassured by Bones that Spock would be back to his normal Vulcan self in a couple of hours.

He was quietly holding Spock's hand when he was dragged out by Sam being an idiot again. Actually, he was dragged out by his sister-in-law screaming at the top of her lungs. As everybody predicted, Sam's stupidity sent his wife into labor. Marcus tried to keep Sam away from her. Sam attacked Marcus and Akia punched out her former husband. Jim was barely able to pull her off of him. Akia's nurse, Mr. Rogers, had enough common sense to call the cops, who happened to be next door breaking up the great stepdad brawl of 2267. Unfortunately, the new cop didn't realize that Jim was trying to break up the fight and took him too, along with Landon, Marcus, Marissa, Madison, Damien, stepdad number two, and Chris. Thankfully Sergeant Jenny did have common sense and Jim wasn't booked. Although she did joke that the only reason for that was she didn't want to put him in a cell with his brother right now.

"Worse funeral ever," Jim mumbled to himself as he waited for Alexis to rescue him.

"I've been to worse. Only 14 people got arrested and only two were members of the admiralty," Alexis said, walking into the room.

"Do I even want to know?" He said, looking up at her.

"I can't even tell you. It happened during the two years that I was stationed on Risa. That's all I can say." If it happened on Risa, it had to be bad.

"Why do I have a feeling that the whole thing was classified?" He said, getting up from the bench.

"Attorney-client privilege," she said with a cryptic smile that scared the hell out of him.

"I should probably apologize for my husband before you get all my crazy family members out of this place," he said sheepishly. He can't believe Spock asked that in public.

"I can tell you now I'm not getting your brother out. It's not possible after what he did. I'm good, but not that good," she said in all seriousness.

"That's okay, because I really don't want you to," Jim said honestly. He was so sick of his brother right now.

"You don't have to apologize for Spock because I'm sure he will be mortified if he actually remembers what happened. His stupid behavior I can understand. He was slightly – okay, your husband was stoned out of his mind, and in his case it was a complete accident. Seriously, who keeps pot brownies just lying around the pantry?" Jim was tempted to say something like there's truth in pot brownies, but he really didn't want to say something like that in a confined space with the woman who taught Nyota how to be a bad ass.

"Normally she keeps them locked up in her office," Jim said as an excuse and Alexis did not even bat an eyelash.

"There's no excuse for T'Pay. I can't believe she tried to play matchmaker. They are not even divorced yet," Alexis said after a moment. Jim's eyes opened in shock, but really he should know better. T'Pay was skilled at shocking the hell out of him.

"I shouldn't be surprised. This is the woman who brought her girlfriend to tell her daughter that she and Sarek are getting a divorce," Jim said, shaking his head sadly. His baby sister-in-law had held on to him for a good 15 minutes when he returned from saving Sam's ass this morning.

"She did what?" Alexis asked as her eyes became dark and angry. "When he called last night, Sarek said he wanted to tell her when he arrived back on earth." Jim raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly when in the last week did his daughter's grandfather get cozy with her other grandma. What exactly happened on new Vulcan?

"It's Sarek now?" Jim asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm still married, even if my husband has given me permission to date other people." Even though Jim wanted to ask something about that, he knew not to because of the dark look he was getting. "I'm not your brother."

"Thank God for that, because we wouldn't have anybody left to get everyone out of jail," Jim said with a snort. "I'm not saying that you would sleep around, because we both know you are not my brother. But what exactly happened that convinced my father-in-law that it was in his best interest to get a divorce once he figured out how to outsmart a Council filled with stick-up-their-ass Vulcans?" He would really like to know what happened, because he doubted he would get any answers from Spock, mostly because Sarek would not give him any answers.

"We just had a lot of long conversations about children and spouses. I think he's lonely and needed a grown-up friend." Because he needed her help to get Akia out of lockup, he did not say anything about the blurry concept of friend/lover in Vulcan society. That would make him lose his lawyer.

"I think you may be right," Jim said before asking Alexis what her strategy was to get his family out of lockup. Alexis, being the brilliant lawyer that she is, managed to get everyone but Sam out with a combination of his and Spock's very generous bank account and her mad legal skills. (He also had writer's cramp because he gave half the courthouse autographs.)

* * *

"You are the best former brother-in-law ever," Akia said, kissing him on the cheek as the corrections robot led the group out of lockup. Madison and Marissa also hugged him for getting them out of there.

"I have to make up for my asshole brother. Did they treat you okay?"

"Jenny brought by apple pie and offered her condolences about Winona and my stupid ex-husband. She also apologized about the junior officer and his computerized partner for taking all of us in when I was in the middle of dealing with a woman in labor."

"You did give Sam a black eye," Madison said pointedly.

"Yes, and you kicked him in his special place. He kind of deserved it. Before he called you a whore and blamed me for ruining his entire life because I stupidly trusted Sam to be on the shot because he said he was on the shot, he pinched my ass and tried to sleep with me." Considering the dark look on her face, Jim knew she was telling the truth. He's not surprised. When they were little, Sam never played with his action figures until Jim tried to play with his action figures, and then Sam would take them away just so Jim couldn't play.

"Why am I not surprised," Marissa said with a snort. Jim just rolled his eyes.

"How's my patient doing?" Akia asked, going into Doctor Mode. It really was her coping strategy of choice.

"According to Nurse Rogers, she keeps screaming about a divorce attorney during contractions. Also, your assistant, Dr. Colson, showed up about 10 minutes ago."

"I don't blame her," the three women said simultaneously.

"What about your favorite Vulcan?" Akia asked after asking him several more medical questions about Aurelan. Being the overprotective husband that he was, Jim may have been sending Bones a text message every 10 minutes as Alexis negotiated the release of everyone. Bones said something about taking his communicator away when he got back to the house. Apparently, Bones was too busy dealing with the crazy lady in labor to deal with him being paranoid about his husband.

"He is back to his normal self and completely mortified. He also didn't believe the Michael Jackson sing-along until the video file," Jim said before he led the three out of the police station to Alexis, who was waiting in the parking lot. She was smart enough to bring Akia's giant SUV.

* * *

"Don't say anything," Pike said as he walked past Jim. There was something unbelievably great about having to get your boss out of jail. The next time he did something stupid, he was so bringing this up. The other guys were already outside, most likely calling a cab.

"I wasn't going to." 'Yet', was left unsaid as Jim bit his tongue to keep from laughing. He wanted to laugh, but Jim knew he shouldn't.

"Oh yes you were. Just remember how many times I had to get you out of jail at the Academy," Pike said, giving Jim his trademark 'I am your admiral and you will listen to me, dammit' expression. That look could melt Klingons.

"It was one time, and it so wasn't my fault," Jim said defensively. Okay, it was more like four times, and really he had no idea that what he was doing was technically illegal. Before Pike could correct him, he was interrupted by the last person he wanted to hear.

"You're leaving me here?" a semi-sober Sam asked from the nearby drunk tank.

"Yes. You caused everything that happened today because you accused me of fucking my own sister during the middle of our mother's funeral," Jim said angrily. It was a good thing there was a sheet of phaser proof glass between him and Sam because he wanted to kick the guy's ass.

"She's not our sister," Sam said angrily, and Jim just sighed. He was so sick of Sam's lack of awareness.

"She's more my sibling than you are at the moment. I'm done Sam. I don't know what to do to break through to you. You are a fucking mess because of the choices _you_ made. I love you but I'm done. Only you can fix this," Jim said, walking out of the detention block, not looking back. Jim really wanted his husband right now.

* * *

45 minutes later he found himself in Spock's hospital room. He had had to drop off hysterical stepdad number two at his hotel room. The only good thing that came out of getting him out of lockup was that he convinced the man into helping Bones and Nyota stay together.

"Nice accommodations," Jim said as he crawled into the bed next to Spock. He knew that Bones wanted to keep Spock in the health wing overnight. Jim didn't know why, considering he would not get a lot of sleep with a live childbirth happening two doors down. Despite the soundproofing, he can still hear his sister-in-law threatening Sam with castration, albeit slightly muffled. It had to be worse for Spock with Vulcan hearing.

"I do not believe this bed was designed for two people," Spock said sharply as he wrapped an arm around Jim.

"I don't care," Jim said, snuggling into Spock's embrace.

"I apologize that my accidental inebriation disrupted your eulogy. Nyota said that the part that was spoken aloud was quite moving. I don't remember anything from the funeral," Spock told him with sadness.

"It was really Sam who disrupted my speech, and be thankful you don't remember the funeral. I would pay money to repress it. Compared to some of the others, you were actually well behaved," he said, closing his eyes.

"I would like to hear what you were planning to say anyway." Because Spock was giving him a look that would make Jim do just about anything, he started reciting the speech he started earlier.

"I was mad at my mom for a long time for a lot of things that I thought she did wrong. That seems so stupid now. I didn't realize that she was in space so she could pay for my private school education, so I wouldn't have to deal with kids making fun of me because I have a dead daddy. I didn't realize that she sent me off to live with Nana so I could learn to be comfortable in my own skin. Okay, and maybe she was trying to protect me from my homophobic grandmother at the same time. Grandma, we all know you hate me because I'm at least a four on the Kinsey scale." Spock looked like he was about to interrupt, but did not.

"I had no idea that she was keeping her illness from me so I would keep doing the things I love. I know now my mother loved me. She loved me in a way that was self-sacrificing. She always put others first. I don't think I really got that until she was gone. I'm a father of two right now with two more kids on the way and I hope I can be half the parent she was," Jim said, choking back a sob.

"Mom, I love you," he whispered, and Spock just kissed him on the forehead.

"That was a very moving speech. I am sorry you did not get to give it at the funeral; however, I do believe you will be an excellent father to our new children, just as you have been an excellent father to Amanda and now Sunk," Spock said as he brushed his lips gently against Jim's.

"It's okay. What's important is you heard it," he said, snuggling in to Spock again. "Speaking of the new babies, when I'm not so emotionally drained we really have to talk about not telling me that you remember the night the twins were conceived," Jim said, starting to get sleepy. This bed was actually comfortable, or maybe he was just that exhausted.

"I did not lie. Apparently, the combination of drugs I accidentally ingested allowed me to remember that the entire thing occurred because Nyota missed being around a baby and Alexis suggested that we engage in intercourse for the sole purpose of creating a new child." Okay, Jim will have to hear that story eventually, especially because that means that this was not an accidental pregnancy. But not tonight.

"Later," he said, placing a finger to Spock's lips. The only thing he wanted tonight was to sleep in Spock's arms, even if it was in a purple room with mammogram posters covering the walls.

To be continued.

* * *

I hop on a plane tomorrow and will be out of the country for the next nine days. I have a couple of chapters out to be beta but I'm not sure if I will be able to post anything until I get back.


	28. Of Life, Death, and Marriage

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I would absolutely adore spending more time on the crazy funeral and really large Kirk family but we need to move on with the plot. My goal is to wrap up the story in five chapters or less. I am still iffy about getting this done by May 15th but I really want this story to be unspoiled by the new film. During my two week vacation I was inspired by my family members who are like certain characters in the story (i.e. Sam). I'm planning on locking myself in my apartment this weekend to get as many chapters done as possible.

Chapter 28: Of Life, Death, and Marriage

In her life, Nyota has had a lot of days where her world gets turned upside down in 48 hours or less, like when her biological mom died or the day she lost her baby and her boyfriend. She's also had a lot of days where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, such as the day Vulcan died or the mission that they don't speak about. She was still deciding if the events surrounding the Winona Kirk funeral disaster of 2267 qualified as the former or the latter. It may be a combination of the two, but regardless, everything was different now, mostly because of a certain prick Admiral.

48 hours ago she was on her way to earth to be there for her best friend as he buried his mother (metaphorically speaking) with their daughter in tow. She wasn't speaking to her mom and was still in denial about why the thought of not being around Leonard made her more nauseous than the baby sickness.

This morning she woke up with Leonard, after accepting that she was completely in love with him in a non-platonic way, and it felt right. He understood why she left the bed to check on baby Amanda, and when things went crazy at the funeral, Amanda was her first priority. He wasn't frightened by her 'unique' relationship with Jim and Spock, unlike the certain former boyfriend who will remain nameless. He wasn't intimidated by the fact that she would outrank him very soon.

Nyota was speaking to her mom again, mostly because she didn't say 'I told you so' when she found out that Nyota was with Leonard now (and Nyota may need her legal advice, thanks to evil Admiral Chicken). Alexis had just hugged her and told her it would all be okay. Considering that she would be staying with her mom until she found an apartment (hopefully, she will be sharing that apartment with Leonard if her mommy really can work miracles), it probably was in her best interest to let it go. She was currently seeing firsthand what holding onto resentment can do, and she didn't want to end up with the same regrets Jim had right now.

Winona Kirk's funeral service qualified as the disaster portion of these couple of days. The police were called in and despite being stoned, Spock was still more well behaved than half of the guests there, i.e. Sam, Frank, and the majority of the admiralty. If she hadn't been pregnant, she probably would have punched out Admiral Chicken when everything went to hell for the smug way he told her that Leonard wouldn't be allowed to stay with her during her time on earth. She just had to be satisfied with the fact that she threw up on him twice.

Finding out that Leonard wouldn't be with her shook her to the core. Thanks to a certain conversation she overheard, she had finally accepted that she was in love with him and she didn't want to go through this pregnancy without him. She didn't want to go through the rest of her life without him. Other than getting sick all over the idiot's shoes, she refused to show any emotion whatsoever. She would not give Admiral Chicken the satisfaction of knowing that he hurt her.

When it all fell apart, she had to deal with panicking children and young adolescents who thought that crashing the funeral during the middle of an all-out brawl was a good thing. She was going to have to have a long talk with Jim about the fact that his foster child did not think it was strange at all for Spock to pass out. That poor baby was going to need a lot of therapy.

It really did look like a bomb went off in the living room after the police managed to drag away most of Jim's family. Considering that Jim's brother tried to proposition her at one point, she was all too happy to see him go. It was kind of scary to think that Jim was the good son. Jim getting arrested was not a good thing, except for the fact that unlike his brother, he had the good sense not to resist. Her mom left to get everybody out of jail.

She was left to clean up the pieces and make sure that the funeral home treated Winona's body with more dignity and respect than her oldest son did when his actions desecrated her body. Nyota had said her goodbyes to Winona earlier as she and Spock flanked Jim, as he tried to have a moment with his mother. Of course, this moment was interrupted by Sam Kirk doing something stupid. She was not surprised.

To keep certain little Vulcans distracted, she decided to play the cleanup game. She thought it was funny that the 18-month-old was the best at following directions. Sonnick thought that it was fun to crawl around and pick up trash. Thankfully, Spock woke up before T'Mandy pointed out for the 15th time the illogic of making the act of cleaning a game. She now had a delightful picture of T'Mandy sitting on top of Spock after her big brother woke up that was beyond adorable.

Spock had apologized to Nyota for anything he may have done under the influence and for worrying her. Okay, so she may have yelled at him for 20 minutes. The reprimand didn't stop until Spock told her exactly what that cocktail of drugs caused him to remember. She didn't want to believe him, but then again she was very good at being in complete denial, and she was willing to admit that she wanted children and she wanted love. Right now she had both, but for how long with Admiral Chicken trying to take everything away from her? Because Leonard decided that Spock needed a little more sleepy time, she had a lot of time to think about that question.

Thanks to a certain asshole in charge, she had only eight more days with Leonard before he would be leaving her. And with Admiral Chicken purposely trying to make her as miserable as possible for reasons only he knows, she doubted that Leonard would ever be serving on her ship again, even if that meant making him a Captain too. Could their relationship survive that?

Yes, her parents made it work when Alexis did a few assignments that wouldn't allow her father to come. However, in their case, they had already been married for years. Marissa existed because George couldn't keep his dick to himself while Winona was assigned somewhere very far away. A dark part of her mind whispered that she cannot expect Leonard to stay faithful when he is light years away from her, when Scotty could not keep it in his pants even when they were sharing a room. That same voice told her she wasn't worth being faithful to.

A polyamorous or open relationship was another possibility, but considering Spock's father was getting divorced, she wasn't sure that was going to work here. Considering that she was not allowed to have alcohol for at least 29 more weeks, she was not even going to begin to examine her strange relationship with Jim and Spock. That thing belonged in its own category.

Part of her thought she should just enjoy this week and hold onto the memory when she's alone in space without the people she was closest to. Once Admiral Chicken got his way, she would be alone with maybe just Christine staying with her, if she was lucky. She didn't know if that would be enough to stave off the loneliness. Jim, Spock, and Leonard were her family as much as Amanda and the babies she was carrying. With Leonard by her side, she was sure she could deal with this, even if she would miss her other friends terribly. That should've been the first sign that she was completely in love with him.

Then there was the situation with her children. Nyota was pretty sure it took her so long to completely accept that she was Amanda's mother because she was afraid of losing her child again. Losing her baby the first time had practically killed her. It was the most painful thing that had ever happened to her, and considering that she'd almost died more than once, that was saying something. She couldn't deal with losing Amanda, which was why she had just tried to be her aunt and not her mother.

Unfortunately, she was really bad at keeping that emotional distance, because from the first kick Amanda Kirk had stolen her heart. The new babies already had her heart as well, which was why she was not fighting her forced reassignment to earth as much as she would have under any other circumstances. As long as they avoided another situation like the one they don't talk about, it would be safer for her to be on Earth.

The problem was afterward. Jim and Spock both said they would work out some sort of joint custody agreement, but she didn't know how that could work in reality. She already knew that Amanda didn't want her to leave and might want to stay with her. Also, how could she raise a child in space by herself? They were okay with three against one, but she was not sure she could deal with Amanda's requests for purple carrots and her tendency to color on the walls by herself. She had survived her trial run on the colony only because Leonard was with her. She didn't know if she could do this alone and she wasn't sure what her options were.

She knew that Winona, the woman whose ashes wouldn't be scattered in the morning, apparently became the perfect stay-at-home mom after George's dalliance, because apparently single motherhood wasn't that appealing to her. She wondered if Winona believed she had made the best choice. Nyota was not sure that that would be a yes.

The Winona who easily left multiple husbands after realizing they were assholes had still managed to raise one of the greatest persons that Nyota had ever met. (She was not going to hold Sam against Winona because the only person responsible for Sam being an ass was Sam.) From what she had gathered from Selek, this version of Jim may have just turned out for the better. He had married Spock instead of making him his little dirty secret (Nyota partially blamed grandma Kirk for that because in any dimension, she was a cold-hearted bitch who fucked with Jim's head), which was a lot better than what Other Jim did. If she ever had a chance to meet Other Jim in person, by means of wacky missions gone to hell, she was smacking him upside the head for being an asshole.

Would she want to give up her career to have the white picket fence fantasy? When it really was just that, a fantasy. She wasn't cut out for a 9-to-5 job. She knew a few dozen languages and how to kill someone without a weapon. She'd been told her mommy skills were second to none, but she wasn't sure she could do it full-time. The only person less cut out for a desk job was Jim, who she was sure was going to set fire to Starfleet (she wasn't yet sure if that was only in the metaphorical sense) when he became one of the bastards in charge.

What did she want? She'd always had a problem with figuring that out. She wanted her ship and her children on it (at least part of the year.) She wanted love. More accurately, she wanted Leonard. Of course, the moment she had admitted that and given in, she found out that he was being taken away from her. Okay, what she really wanted was to knock Admiral Chicken Dick unconscious. Maybe the question should be, was she ready to fight for what she wanted?

She didn't have time to really think about it anymore because her mom arrived back with Akia, Madison, and Marcus. Akia quickly dragged Madison back to the medical wing, saying that her grandchild's Mama should get to see childbirth firsthand. Akia was a very cruel woman sometimes.

"Where's Jim? You should've been able to get him out easily because he didn't do anything stupid," Nyota asked, drinking the tea that Leonard said was perfectly fine for her and the babies. Due to the Kirk family tendency to put drugs in everything, he was now scanning all her food on principle.

"Driving the admirals to their hotels. We took a cab, which was a lot faster. He's trying to figure out a way to overturn Dana's decision." She wasn't that surprised that despite everything going on right now, Jim was trying to help her out. It was such a Jim thing to do.

"He shouldn't be. He has other things to worry about. Please tell me that Sam is still in jail?" she asked hopefully.

"I didn't even try to get him out and Jim didn't ask. I think Jim is done with Sam for good. Is this safe to drink?" Alexis asked, as she motioned to the tea kettle.

"Leonard tested it. He says it's 100% baby friendly." Alexis smirked at that.

"He is good for you. I'm just glad that you finally saw it." At least Alexis was not using that 'I told you so' tone that Nyota was expecting.

"Yes, except that 24 hours after I realized that I really do love him and allowed myself to actually tell him that, I find out I'm losing him because Jim managed to piss off the wrong Admiral and I'm just collateral damage." Alexis frowned at her words.

"I don't think Jim was the reason for this," Alexis said in a whisper.

"I didn't do anything against him purposely except be a highly competent female officer," Nyota responded as she threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"Unfortunately, I did. Do you remember when I got assigned to Risa?"

For any other position in Starfleet,_ an assignment on _Risa was a wonderful thing, but not when you're a member of Starfleet legal. Most of your days were spent covering up the indiscretions of Starfleet personnel who did really stupid things, or taking care of diplomats who did even stupider things. There was this rumor about four different admirals getting arrested at the same meeting and her mom having to cover up an orgy gone bad with various diplomats from various planets throughout the galaxy, including a few that were hoping to become Federation members. When she says "orgy that went badly," she means that there was a body count. So essentially, among Starfleet legal, Risa was the equivalent of Delta Vega. So for Alexis to have earned a Risa assignment, she had to have seriously made someone very angry, even if she was in charge of the entire legal office there.

"Why do I have a feeling that Admiral Chicken had something to do with it?" Nyota asked with a sigh.

"I was the one who had the case against his son originally. He wanted me to make it go away, and you know I wouldn't do that. Because of that, he made me go away instead by having me reassigned to the 'vacation planet of the damned' to keep Starfleet's image intact. Let's just say that the good Admiral has a lot of experience at turning a promotion into some sort of punishment." Alexis's voice was bitter.

"So he still holds a grudge, even though he was able to get his son off with minimal damage to his reputation. Although, I doubt that T'Pring agreed, but he did get a new grandkid that he's going to completely ignore out of the whole messy situation," Nyota spat out with bitterness and sarcasm.

"Because I didn't make it go away quickly, he had to send his son away like he did after the thing with Spock. He blamed me for his son dying. He is messing with you, to mess with me." Alexis almost sounded like she wanted to cry.

"That would actually require him to care about his son and I'm not sure he ever did that," Nyota spat back

"That doesn't matter, because he knows I love you. You are the most important thing in the world to me and hurting you hurts me, and losing Leonard will hurt you." Nyota knows that's true, but she's not sure how the man would know that. "I hate hurting you. I think that's why I went along with your father's wishes, even though I knew you would be furious at me."

"I don't know if that's what he's doing," Nyota said, avoiding her mother's confession because she wasn't ready to talk about that yet. "I know you think that Leonard and I had this big secret relationship for the last few years, but it wasn't like that. I didn't even…"

"Realize that you were head over heels in love with him until you had no choice but to see it? Trust me; I'm well aware of that. I had 50 credits on you not realizing you were in love with him until after you two ended up on different ships. I'm not 100% sure if I'm out of those credits yet. The current situation may qualify."

Nyota's mouth opened in shock. She knew that betting in Starfleet was a pretty common thing. She remembered the early pools about whether Jim and Spock would sleep together or kill each other first. She had won 400 credits with just one credit because almost everybody went with 'kill each other'.

"People are betting on us?" she asked, mouth still wide open.

"Baby, the only two people who didn't see that you were head over feet in love with Leonard McCoy were you and maybe him." Alexis actually happened, if tacitly, to laugh at this. Nyota's response was to glare. "The fact that Leonard put in a request be transferred to San Francisco to be with you made it obvious even to the moron. Everybody knows that he ended up in Starfleet in the first place because his dreadful ex-wife managed to run him off the planet. You make him want to come back. The man loves you."

"He just takes his job seriously," Nyota said, not even believing that excuse herself. Why had she not seen this stuff earlier?

"You don't believe that, and no one else does."

Dammit, she should've mentioned that Leonard hates being in space and flying in general. That excuse would have been plausible.

"Sometimes, I really hate that you know me so well," Nyota said, shaking her head. "What are my options?"

"Well, I assume that resigning and running off into the sunset together is not an option?"

Nyota was not 100% sure her mom was joking with that comment.

"Not at all. Even if I was willing to do it, I wouldn't ask him to give up his career for me." _Because you don't think he will, _whispered that same self-deprecating voice from earlier.

"You are well aware of how family-unfriendly Starfleet's policies are at the moment. Jim's former stepdad and Pike have been trying to rewrite the damn thing for the last three years, but at present there are only two ways to qualify for tandem assignments."

Nyota already knew what those two ways were. Option one involved being married or the local equivalent as recognized by the Federation. Option two involved sharing a child (which on a couple of Federation planets technically counted as a marriage). That was kind of how she ended up with a second tour on Enterprise. Although, considering that team was being split up, that rule wasn't always respected.

"Okay, one of those options is just not possible," she said with a snicker.

"I knew you would not be amenable to the marriage thing. I mean, you guys have only been together consciously for a day at most, even if it's really been nine years by other standards." That last part was mumbled under Alexis' breath. "Also, I've already spent the week trying to get someone else out of a marriage of convenience and don't like doing it again."

If Nyota weren't so annoyed at the moment, she would have asked exactly what had happened with Spock's dad while she hadn't been talking to her mom, but she was a little scared to have any of her suspicions confirmed.

"I meant the pregnancy thing, since I'm already pregnant. Also, unlike Spock's dad, at least I would actually be in love with the person I was marrying and not still in love with a dead woman," Nyota told her mother.

"Are you actually saying marriage is an option?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow in a way that would have made Spock proud.

Fuck, she had revealed too much, or just maybe Alexis was way too good at reading Nyota for her own personal sanity. She didn't want to answer. She didn't have to because Leonard disrupted the conversation by bringing Madison into the kitchen. She looked slightly out of it and severely nauseous.

"Watch her. I can't deal with someone else passing out," Leonard said in his normal rough way, but it didn't bother her.

"Someone else?" she asked Leonard, raising an eyebrow.

"There was a reason why Dr. Colson took a job that he assumed to be a research position. The guy has not delivered a baby since med school and he ended up on the pink floor tiles."

She could just tell that he wanted to laugh, but was holding himself back. She was personally holding back a snicker.

"I'm not going to pass out. It's just a little… I didn't know it would hurt that much." That's when Madison lost her balance and was quickly steadied by Leonard and placed in a chair.

"Okay, maybe I need a cracker, or something with protein. The only thing I have eaten in the last nine hours is a slice of pie. Although, I know I want a cesarean now," Madison said after a moment.

"I think somebody brought real fried chicken," Alexis said, getting up to rummage through the food that was supposed to be for the after-the-funeral dinner that was not happening now. Nyota personally wanted to go after Leonard, but he was already gone. She also knew that talking to him when he was in Doctor Mode just wasn't going to work.

"Cesareans are not exactly pain-free," Nyota told the girl. She may have been drugged for most of the thing, but it was still the most physically painful thing she had ever experienced, and she'd almost died before. The most painful thing she ever experienced was losing her baby. That was physical and mental.

"God, I don't think I can do this. Grandma Winona told me it was worse without the drugs, but still more pleasant than dying of cancer, because at least you get a cute baby in the end," Madison said sadly.

"I'm sure a lot of things are more pleasant than dying of cancer, including giving birth to your son in an escape pod." The 'as your husband, who cheated on you, died' part was left off, because Alexis had more tact than most of the Kirk family.

"I'm making you a fried chicken salad. Do you want anything else? I think every side dish imaginable is in here, although no chocolate baked goods because I can't in good conscience accidentally give a pregnant woman marijuana," Alexis joked, sort of.

"Macaroni and cheese, please. I've already been told not to eat any chocolate or cheese crackers. I've already dealt with the consequences of accidental drugging. That's the whole reason why I'm pregnant. I really can't do this," the twenty something said, slightly panicked.

"Yes, it hurts and I'm going to be very selective about my bikinis for the rest of my life, but she was worth it. The first time I held Amanda in my arms I knew I wouldn't love anyone else like I love her. It scared me because I didn't think I deserved that love. My biological mom left me. Everyone told me it was because she died, but I knew she wasn't coming back anyway. Her dying was a better excuse than her just not loving me and dad anymore. The guy who I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with fucked around on me. He said he was scared, but I was scared too and I didn't throw everything away because of that. Now I think I've lost my dad too," Nyota added.

"He's still here," Alexis said, whispering as she handed the salad to Madison.

"Is he really? I will only be able to talk to him with Spock's help. Is there anything left?" Nyota asked, and Alexis just looked away. "I can't lose anything else, especially because I'm too afraid to fight for what I want, and that includes Leonard."

"What do you want?" Alexis asked.

"I want to be in my children's life and not just the egg donor. I want a partner that gets that I don't want to be the perfect housewife because that's not me and I'm pretty sure I found that person in a cranky doctor from Georgia. I want to see the galaxy with Leonard. I want to fight this stupid decision."

"I've never given birth, so I can't tell you anything about that. Parenthood is also completely terrifying, but it was all worth it when Nyota introduced me as her mother for the first time. The scary things are the only things worth fighting for," Alexis said to Madison as she put a salad in front of Nyota.

"You're pregnant too and you have twins," she added to Nyota.

Nyota wanted to say that she doubted that she could keep said salad down, but she didn't want to deal with the consequences of not eating. She had learned that the hard way when she was a kid.

"Winona said something similar in her letter to me," Madison said, picking at the chicken.

"She wrote a lot of letters," Nyota remarked.

"I know, I helped her do the last few. She was so weak the last couple of days, but she was so happy about the baby. She was angry as hell about the circumstances, but happy. Although, I think she was mostly happy because she lived long enough to see the ultrasound of her first great grandchild."

Nyota felt sad for a moment, realizing that the babies she was carrying and the child being born in the other room would never get to meet their grandmother. She felt like crying, and it had nothing to do with the pregnancy hormones. (Okay, maybe it did have a lot to do with the pregnancy hormones. Seriously, why did she want to get pregnant when she was under the influence of alien fertility drugs?)

"She wrote you too. It's upstairs in Landon's room. I'll go get it when I feel like I'm not going to pass out or throw up," Madison said as she continued eating.

"That might be a while," Nyota said with a snicker. She really did have eight months of morning sickness the first time around. "What did it say?"

"Essentially that you shouldn't be afraid to become a mother because you already were mom to Amanda and from what she's heard from Akia, you are doing a wonderful job. She also said that you should jump your doctor before he becomes the one that got away. Actually, she said you should put a ring on it, but I don't get the reference." Nyota did get the reference, just as another scream could be heard throughout the whole house, despite the soundproofing.

* * *

Despite the fact that her water broke during the middle of her mother-in-law's funeral, the soon-to-be former Mrs. Sam Kirk was in labor for a very long time. At 2:39 AM Amali Akia Kirk came into the world screaming and crying to many shocked people, mostly because Sam told everyone that he was having another son.

"I lied to him. He became so detached from the moment he found out I was pregnant, and I knew he didn't want to deal with a little girl. I was sure I would lose him completely if he knew we were having a daughter." Of course, the woman said this as she was half groggily holding her little girl, who looked surprisingly like her grandmother. If Leonard believed in reincarnation, he would be slightly suspicious. She looked exactly like one of the pictures on display at the service.

Okay, they were all shocked that Aurelan named her firstborn daughter after the woman from whom she had stolen her cheating lying husband. Leonard personally thought it was a big 'fuck you' to the guy she threatened to castrate 35 times during labor. Jim had a different theory, which he didn't explain as he sleepily held his very first biological niece. Leonard wondered if Nyota's theory was similar, because sometimes it was like the two shared the same brain.

"The Baby's first name means hope in ancient Swahili, and considering who her father is, that baby is going to need a lot of hope," Nyota told him as Amanda continued to sleep on top of her. There would not be a repeat of the teenager-like make out session from the night before with a near four-year-old in the room, but he wasn't expecting that any way due to his exhaustion.

"And the middle name?" he prompted.

"Do you know that Akia and Winona both mean firstborn? Also, Jim's second oldest nephew, who I can't remember the name of at the moment, said that Winona was really nice to Aurelan despite everything," Nyota explained.

"Then why not call her Winona?" Leonard asked.

"Jim already called dibs. Baby girl Kirk will be called Aimee Winona Uhura-[no standard equivalent]-Kirk." He rolled his eyes at the fact that a guy who never planned anything had already chosen a baby name a full 29 weeks before said child was due, especially when things were so precarious. Then again, maybe it was a good sign that they were discussing baby names, which meant that Nyota was accepting this.

"You're giving those poor children three last names, including one that only you and Spock have any hope of pronouncing?" he said, feeling sorry for his future step-children—he means—oh hell. Let's just accept that he is thinking of her in those terms, especially after the conversation he heard earlier, during the hours when he was waiting for the latest Kirk to be born. The one conclusion he came to was that he wasn't leaving this planet without her, Starfleet be damned.

"Jim said something about giving the child my last name so I couldn't run away from the fact that these two are my children. We don't have any boy names picked out yet. I suggested your name but Jim said no," she said with a sweet smile.

"Probably because, before we knew that Amanda was going to be a girl, I told Jim I wouldn't want to saddle any kid with my first name, and that goes even more for a future stepson." It wasn't a Freudian slip this time. His word choice was deliberate.

"How much of that conversation with my mom did you hear?" she asked with a sigh.

"I only heard the end part. Getting married so I can stay with you is a better reason than I had last time, even if I did get my daughter out of the whole thing." He kissed her at that moment . It was gentle and sweet and he wished that she didn't have her four-year-old daughter lying on top of her. "I'm not going back without you. At least this way I don't have to go job searching or face getting court marshaled."

"Are you proposing? We've been together for 38 hours and we haven't even had s-e-x yet," she said, spelling out the word because little Vulcan ears were nearby, even if Amanda was supposed to be asleep.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes," she said without hesitation.

"Do you want to be on this damn planet alone for the next six months?"

"No," she said again without hesitation. "I can't deal with this pregnancy alone. I can't deal with my dad alone. I need you."

"Do you want to be on Enterprise without me?" he asked, sure he already knew the answer.

"I don't think I could take it. I think I already said I need you."

"In contrast to my first marriage, at least we actually like each other and we're not rushing into it because the Fuc— the contraception failed miserably," he said, correcting himself.

"Ask me again in a couple of hours when we're not sleep deprived." It was not an out right 'no'. He could work with that.

* * *

I swear it was a total coincidence but Winona and Akia both mean firstborn. However it worked really well for this chapter.

Feel free to give your suggestions for first names for baby boy Uhura-[no standard equivalent]-Kirk. I will also except crazy proposal ideas.


	29. Amanda Kirk Knows Everything

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also thank you to everyone who suggested baby names. Keep the suggestions coming.

This chapter is relatively short because I didn't want you guys to wait for weeks for another chapter. I also had this really cute scene outlined in my mind involving Amanda watching everybody interact with her new baby cousin but I did not write out the scene because I really do want to get this story done by May 17th. Actually, I'm threatening myself with not being able to see the new movie until I get the story done if I don't make my self-imposed deadline. I'm going to try to write faster and not go out on created tangents.

* * *

**Chapter 29: Amanda Kirk Knows Everything**

Amanda doesn't understand why people think that she is too little to know what's going on. She knows more than people think that she does. For example, she knows exactly what her daddies were doing in the bathroom the morning before. They're kind of loud. She understands that her Daddy Jim is sad because his mommy is dead. That means that she is no longer able to play with him or do other things mommies do.

She understands that her Daddy Spock is a little jealous of his little sister because she gets to have the daddy that he always wanted to have. Her cousin T'Mandy is sad and angry because her parents are getting a divorce because her mommy likes other women and not her daddy grandpa in a fun grown up play time way, but they're still friends. (Yes, she knows that technically T'Mandy is her aunt but grandpa Sarek said it was okay to think of her and baby Sonnick as cousins, especially because Daddy Spock winces every time Amanda refers to Sonnick as an uncle).

She also knows T'Mandy is scared because Daddy Spock went unconscious during the funeral. Amanda was not worried because her daddy has passed out before due to an allergic reaction. Although, it was usually the other daddy that got sick. Apparently, her Daddy Spock knows that he's not supposed to have the chocolate brownies, but he eats them anyway. Sometimes, daddies are silly.

She knows that her new big brother had a really bad mom who hit him and said bad things to him all the time. Last night he woke up crying. He's afraid that Daddy Jim and Daddy Spock will send him back if he is not perfect. She has tried to convince him otherwise, but it's not working.

She knows that her Uncle Sam, who everybody refers to as a word she is not allowed to repeat, is nasty to everybody because he is sad that his mommy cannot play with him anymore. Her aunt Akia said he's angry because he keeps making bad decisions because he keeps thinking with his genitalia, but that's not the word she used. Amanda just thinks he is mean and stupid. She doesn't like Uncle Sam and is happy that she now has an Aunt Marissa instead. She is so much cooler and she played Barbies with Amanda before the funeral when she tried to get cousin T'Mandy to talk about how she feels about her daddy grandpa and her mom getting divorced. T'Mandy threw a Barbie at her. T'Mandy is really sad and angry about the whole situation, but mostly because she thinks all the other kids at school are going to be horrible to her because her parents won't be together anymore. The grown-ups don't know about that either, but Amanda does.

She also knows that the mean chicken guy, that her daddy calls the same names that she's not allowed to repeat, is trying to break up her family. She already knows that her mommy won't be coming home when this vacation is over. Everyone says it's because it's better for her new brother and sister, but Amanda knows better. The chicken guy doesn't like Daddy Jim and therefore is trying to make him really sad so he will leave Starfleet. Nyota being somewhere else and Daddy Jim not being with his ship would make him very sad. Her Daddy Jim loves his ship a lot, but not as much as her and Daddy Spock.

Amanda does not want this to happen because living on a starship is really fun. When she grows up she wants to be a captain just like Daddy and soon her mommy too. Because Amanda doesn't want to be away from her mommy, she is going to try to stay on earth anyway, even if it won't be as much fun. Somebody has to watch mommy and make sure that the babies are okay (and maybe her big brother will be less scared if he had some quality solo daddy time). Uncle Bones was supposed to come too but the mean chicken guy does not like him either. He said a lot of bad things about Uncle Bones (that Amanda is not allowed to repeat) in the hallway outside the play room. He also thinks that Daddy Jim is really incompetent and can't do anything without his friends and Daddy Spock. Amanda personally thinks that's just silly.

Apparently, the chicken guy was being really mean to mommy because of something grandma did. He also cursed her for being responsible for Sunk existing in the first place and for him being forced to do whatever Uncle Pike said. He really doesn't like Uncle Pike either. He called him six different words Amanda is not allowed to repeat, including the really nasty F one. She didn't tell mommy what the guy said because she was already really sad and Amanda doesn't want to get in trouble for cursing.

Mommy Nyota cried a lot as she waited for Uncle Bones to come to bed. The only good thing about this was she admitted that she loves Uncle Bones. That meant it wouldn't be too long before Uncle Bones became another daddy. That would make it easier for her to be away from Daddy Jim and Spock for a little while. She always knew that Uncle Bones loves her mommy, but she was glad her mommy knew that. She was happy about that because her mommy needed somebody for fun grown up play time and Uncle Bones always made her happy. Her mom needed to be happy because Amanda didn't want to see her cry anymore.

The problem was, the mean chicken guy was trying to keep Uncle Bones from staying on earth with her and mommy until the babies were born. She may have been playing hide and seek in the living room with her other cousins when her mommy and grandma were talking about the best way to keep Uncle Bones with the two on earth as her mom was waiting for the babies to be born. She tried not to cheer when marriage was suggested because she really wanted Uncle Bones to be her new other daddy. She thinks Uncle Bones feels the same way as she does because Amanda saw him smile for a second before he walked into the kitchen with her new aunt Madison. (Yes, she knows that Landon is technically her cousin, but he's closer in age to Daddy Jim than T'Mandy was to Daddy Spock and Daddy Jim saw him as a brother, therefore Landon was her uncle and his girlfriend was her new aunt. Besides, she needs a better biological uncle than Uncle Sam. He's also really horrible to his kids like Sunk's old mom, even if he doesn't hit his children.)

Amanda was awake when her Uncle Bones asked her mommy to marry him. She woke up when he sat on the bed after delivering her brand-new baby cousin that she can't wait to hold. She really wanted her mommy Ny to say yes, but she was afraid. Grandma Alexis said that mommy was afraid to fall in love and have her own white picket fence fantasy again because Mister Scotty blew up her heart in 1 million little pieces before Amanda was born because he was another word that Amanda was not allowed to repeat. Amanda knew that she just had to do everything possible to make sure that she got her new Daddy Bones.

A few minutes later she felt Uncle Bones lifting her out of her mom's arms to most likely carry her to her bedroom. She quickly grabbed an arm around her favorite uncle. Since this action already made Bones aware that she was up, she decided to put her plan into action.

"Do you want to be my new daddy?" Amanda asked sort of sleepily as she snuggled into him.

"You already have two good daddies, even if they do stupid things that give me gray hair, such as eating fun brownies and getting arrested at the worst possible time," he said, placing a kiss on Amanda's forehead as he opened the door to what was being referred to as the girls room. "I would be staying at a hotel right now if it wasn't for your mommy. Your family is crazy."

"Daddy Spock said the same thing about staying in a hotel," Amanda said with a yawn.

"I'm sure the walking computer would," Uncle Bones mumbled under his breath.

"I know I have two daddies but mommy doesn't have anybody for fun grown-up play time and grandpa Sarek said you can only have grown-up fun time if you're married."

"Your grandfather has issues." Of course, he said this after he compared her two other daddies to bunnies and said another f word that she's not allowed to say.

"Mommy also needs someone to hold her when she is crying. Mommy loves you despite what Mister Scott did to her," Amanda continued, ignoring his earlier comments.

"But that doesn't mean we are going to get married right away, despite what your grandfather believes."

"But you already asked her." That's when her Uncle Bones' eyes went really wide.

"You were not sleeping at all, were you baby girl?" he asked her.

"You woke me up when you sat on the bed," she replied as she yawned again.

"I'm sorry I woke you Princess. I know it's been a long day, baby," he said, stroking her hair as he laid her down on the bed covered in basketballs that obviously belonged to one of her cousins.

"That's okay. When you ask her again, do something with violins and a pretty ring. I want you to marry mommy so you can stay with us here on earth," she said with another yawn. The bed was really comfortable.

"I'm going to do everything I can to stay here with her, but Princess, I don't know if you'll be able to stay with mommy. Won't you miss your daddies?" he asked after a moment.

"I already told Daddy that somebody has to watch mommy," she said as Uncle Bones put a blanket over her.  
"Did you say that to Daddy Jim or Daddy Spock?"

"Both daddies." Uncle Bones just rolled his eyes.

"I can't make any promises, baby girl, but I'll see what I can do," Uncle Bones said as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Okay, I will help," Amanda said just before falling asleep again, knowing exactly who she needed to help her.

* * *

Amanda took her promise to help Uncle Bones marry mommy Ny very seriously. She even gave up the possibility of spending quality time with her new baby cousin to talk to her mommy about the whole thing. That's why she chose breakfast with her mommy over finally getting to hold the baby. Besides, it was a little bit difficult with all her big brothers crowding her.

"I think you should marry Uncle Bones so he can stay with us when we move back to earth because the mean chicken guy is making us. You need somebody to take care of you and I can't do it alone." This resulted in her mommy choking on her orange juice. She had no other choice but to wait for breakfast because her mommy was busy packing to go the San Francisco and having secret meetings with her daddies that Amanda is not supposed to know about. Sometimes they forget how good Vulcan hearing really is. This morning Amanda overheard the three talking about how mommy Nyota would be leaving today with Daddy Spock to go the San Francisco. (Mommy also cried a lot when she was talking about her dad because he was really sick.) Amanda would be coming in a couple of days because her Daddy Jim had to stay to deal with the lawyers. That was why Grandma Alexis was staying too.

"So you're staying with me?" her mommy questioned, purposely avoiding her comment about marrying Uncle Bones.

"You need someone to watch out for you," Amanda said as she took a big bite of apple. It was one of the few fruits that did not make her tongue blotchy.

"Yes, but who will take care of your daddies?" Nyota asked.

"My new big brother. He needs some one-on-one daddy time. His old mommy was really mean to him and he needs to learn that not all mommies and daddies are like that. He's also a little scared that the daddies will not want him anymore." Sometimes when all the grown-ups are busy doing other things, Sunk will tell her about what it was like living with that unpleasant Vulcan, like early this morning when he woke up from another nightmare. She didn't feed him half the time and would hit him a lot when she wasn't passed out.

"You are an amazing little girl sometimes," her grandma said as she gave Amanda a big stack of apple pancakes without cinnamon because she wasn't allowed to have it. She may have also said certain things about Sunk's old mommy under her breath that Amanda cannot repeat because it involved decapitation and choking.

"However, it is not your job to take care of your mommy all by yourself. I think Dr. McCoy should be there too, and every step necessary to secure his presence should be taken," Grandma Alexis said, looking directly at mommy Ny as she just rolled her eyes.

"Does that mean you think Uncle Bones should be my new other daddy too?" Amanda asked with fake innocence.

"This is what happens when you put Jim and Spock's genes together in one tiny cute little package. She's manipulative and adorable," her mother mumbled under her breath.

"Why do you think— why do you want— I'm not even sure how to ask you that question," her mother said, stammering.

"However, I do. Why do you want your mom to marry your Uncle Bones?" Grandma Alexis asked with a bright smile.

"Because the mean chicken guy that Daddy calls a word for genitalia that I'm not allowed to repeat wants to keep us all apart from each other so we will be unhappy and he can get rid of us once and for all. But if you marry Uncle Bones his plan will not work." That's when Amanda repeated everything she overheard the mean chicken guy say yesterday to one of his friends that also hates both of her daddies.

"That's not necessarily a good reason to get married." Of course her mommy said this after she called the man several Klingon words that Amanda is not allowed to say again, after she caused what Daddy referred to as a diplomatic cluster F-word-she-is-not-allowed-to-say. Her mommy looked like she was about to cry again. She also looked like she was ready to punch somebody out.

"But you love him," Amanda said, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Yes, I love your Uncle Bones very much." Her grandma Alexis actually cheered when mommy said that. Amanda just smiled to herself.  
"I do want him to be here with me, but I can't be that selfish. Besides, sometimes love is just not enough." Grandma Alexis put her head on the table and sighed at that moment. She also said "if I ever see that Scotsman again, I'm going to cut off his balls with a dull butter knife." Again, because she's a little kid, they don't think she knows that Mister Scott broke her mother's heart into 1000 little pieces, but she knew all about it. Uncle bones and Doctor Christine tell her all the good stuff and grandma's voice carried a lot when she was having her secret conversations with grandpa last week. She also cried a lot whenever she talked about mommy Nyota's daddy.

"You're thinking about Mister Scotty, but that's not fair to Uncle Bones. Uncle Bones is a lot better than Mister Scotty. Mister Scotty is fun to play with, but I don't think he would've made a very good daddy or partner. Sometimes he says he is going to play with me and then he forgets and does something in engineering that gets Daddy Jim to yell at him. Daddy Spock says he's flaky." Mommy Ny's response was to laugh.

"I think you have your fathers confused. I don't think Spock would ever use that term unless he was under the influence," her mommy Nyota remarked under her breath

"Under the influence of what? He said so yesterday," Amanda said as she took the last bite of her turkey sausage. She really didn't like meat but she was too allergic to everything to be a vegetarian like her daddy.

"Allergens," her mommy said quickly as her grandma snickered in the back to the old "Remember, just say no to chocolate brownies, especially in this house."

"I think Amanda raises a very valid point," Grandma Alexis said as she tried not to snicker. "He is not Mister Scott. He's not going to cheat on you or leave you. He will not force you to become the stereotypical housewife archetype. Leonard stayed home with his daughter when his first wife was in law school. He's a good man and I want him to be my son-in-law. It's 2267, you don't have to wait for him to pop the question. You should do it."

"It's too soon," Nyota said, just as Amanda added that he already asked last night.

"What?" both women asked simultaneously.

"You were awake last night?" Nyota asked, giving her the mom glare of death. Amanda usually got this type of look whenever she drew on the walls with her mom's lipstick.

"He proposed?" her grandma asked in shock.

"Yes." Grandma looked like she was about to cheer at Amanda's reply. Mommy did not look happy with her answer and was still glaring at her.

"What did she say?" Grandma asked Amanda directly.

"I'm right here," her mom said with annoyance.

"So what did you say?" Grandma Alexis asked, turning to her.

"I think I need to go pack," her mom said, trying to leave the room.

"That's why I didn't ask you because you always run away. You're not running away this time, daughter of mine," Grandma Alexis said, grabbing mommy's arm to keep her from leaving.

"I didn't say no, it's just…" Mommy Ny stopped mid-sentence, not sure what to say.

"You don't want him merely asking out of some misplaced sense of chivalry?" Grandma asked in a way that mommies do sometimes.

"Yes. This is the guy who married a woman that he absolutely hated just because the contraceptive failed. I don't want him to just marry me because he doesn't want his favorite patient in the hands of another doctor."

Alexis responded by wrapping her arms around Nyota.

"If I ever see that fucking engineer again, he better run," her grandma whispered so low that Amanda could only hear her because she's part Vulcan. "This has nothing to do with a misplaced sense of duty. I bet you told yourself that same self-deprecating bullshit when he showed up in your hospital room on New Vulcan. The man is in love with you," Alexis said cursing, but Amanda chose not to remind her that she owed money in the swear jar account.

"I know that," Mommy said, pulling out of the hug.

"I don't think you do. Yesterday, you said you wanted to fight. You have to fight," Grandma Alexis told her sternly.

That's when Daddy Spock came in and told mommy that he managed to book them on the 12 PM shuttle to San Francisco. Mommy managed to run out of there as fast as humanly possible.

"Did you really have to give her an excuse to run away from me?" she said, glaring at Daddy Spock. "I was trying to get her to say yes."

"Yes to what?" Daddy Spock inquired with moderate confusion.

"Uncle Bones asked mommy Ny to marry her. He also said that he wants to be my step daddy." Her daddy's response was to smile in his daddy way. He doesn't smile like other people do with their mouth but rather with his eyes. She could tell he was happy.

"Because you told her about the shuttle leaving in three hours, you gave her the perfect excuse to run away again and I was just starting to get her to not be just as stubborn as her father. This is your fault and you're going to fix it," Grandma said in frustration.

"Over the nearly 15 years that we have known each other I have learned it is very difficult to get Nyota to accept something that she is not ready to accept. I assume that she would continue to deny her fillings for Doctor McCoy for another 3 to 4 years. It took her nearly 4 years to accept that she is Amanda's mother," Daddy Spock said matter-of-factly.

"Oh I know exactly how stubborn my daughter can be. You are the only boyfriend that she has ever had that could make her see things that she doesn't want to," Grandma Alexis said before pausing for a moment, "Jim can too, but he was never actually her boyfriend."

"If you get someone pregnant doesn't that count as a boyfriend?" Amanda asked the group as her grandma put her head in her hands again and her daddy raised his eyebrows in his 'I can't believe you just said that out loud way.'

"I believe James is required for this conversation," was her father's only response.

To be continued


	30. Lessons My Mother Taught Me

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. There are 3 to 4 chapters after this if I stick to my current outline, one of which is already written. I may get the actual story done before the new film comes out in the US but I don't think I'll make it to the epilogue. My new deadline for this story is Father's Day.

* * *

Chapter 30: Lessons My Mother Taught Me

Jim's favorite thing in the world is to wake up next to his husband and just lay there in his arms for a few minutes before Spock actually wakes up. Considering his husband's biological need to sleep less and their jobs, this was a rare occurrence. Even on the so-called vacation from hell, it rarely happened because no matter what planet his husband was on he still got up before the sun (metaphorically speaking of course). It's a small miracle that Spock is still sleeping at 7:21 AM. Considering Spock didn't even wake up when Bones dragged him out of bed to meet his brand-new baby niece about six hours earlier, Jim is pretty sure drugs are involved. He just hoped it wasn't more trippy hot chocolate or fun time brownies. (He really was going to have to start testing all of their food before consuming it. It had to be a record that they both got hospitalized on vacation for eating the wrong damn thing.)

No matter what the reason was for Spock to be still out to the world, he was going to enjoy this. Because after the last few days, he seriously needs quality husband cuddling time (not that he wanted anybody to know that he enjoyed quality husband cuddling time that didn't follow sex).

Considering how little sleep he had the night before, because he lost a couple of hours to cooing over his baby niece, he was not expecting to enjoy the pleasure of watching his husband sleep this morning because he was sure Spock would wake up first. He was originally hoping to sleep in to at least 10 AM, considering the only thing he had to do today was meet with the lawyer about the will (that would be happening here because Aurelan wasn't ready to leave the medical center) and pick up his mother's ashes (not necessarily in that order). Both things he wanted to put off as long as humanly possible. (He also intends to avoid anything Sam related and he had a feeling that the reading of his mom's last will and testament will be Sam related, if the guy somehow managed to get out of jail.)

However, 93 minutes after he fell back asleep post baby, he woke up to the sounds of Amali crying and Akia trying to convince the baby that maybe a bottle wasn't such a horrible thing. Obviously, Spock was drugged because under normal circumstances he would've woken up too. If you're used to having to wake up at a moment's notice, when assholes start bombing the ship in the middle of the night, you have a tendency to wake up really easily. Jim wasn't exactly able to go back to sleep after that and instead he decided to partake in his favorite activity of Spock watching.

His quality Spock watching time was interrupted about 46 minutes later when his baby brother-in-law jumped on to the bed along with JK. His nephew has been a very bad influence on his baby brother-in-law. He already had him coloring on walls and jumping on furniture. If his father-in-law was not in the middle of the world's most amicable divorce he probably would be pissed off at Jim for 'corrupting' his youngest son.

"Enough already! I'm up, but Spock needs more sleep," he told the boys in an attempt to calm the two down, but he is pretty sure that even a drugged up Spock could not sleep through the attack of the little boys.

"Hey, what did I tell you about jumping on the patient's?" Marcus said, running into the room. Sonnick was already in Spock's arms, who was now up, as Jim had predicted..

"Don't get caught," the almost 4-year-old said, using the trademark Kirk family puppy dog eyes on his mother's sort of boyfriend. The kid reminded Jim too much of himself at that age except his future stepdad was not an asshole. Jim actually likes Marcus a lot.

"I think you have me confused with your brother," Marcus said to the little boy. That does sound like something Landon would have said, "or possibly your uncle," Marcus added, looking directly at him. Okay, maybe Jim didn't like Marcus that much.

"That seems highly probable," Spock said with a yawn. Okay, Bones obviously gave his husband a sleeping hypo if he was yawning.

"No, you told me that, Daddy." The room went silent at JK's words. Does it surprise Jim at all that his four-year-old nephew calls another man daddy? Not at all. Sam has maybe seen his youngest son two or three times since he was born. (He completely ignored him yesterday at the funeral.) Sam has been zero for two in regards to seeing his last two children be born. At least being in jail was a much better excuse than not even caring to be there. According to Landon, Marcus has been there a lot for his mom during these last few months and has become a major part of the boys lives. He was the one who accompanied Akia to basketball games and spelling bees. Marcus was now the alternate contact if one of the boys got sick at school. As sad as he was at the thought of his nephew considering someone else dad, Jim didn't find it shocking.

Now Akia, on the other hand, was surprised. She was standing behind her boyfriend with her mouth open wide in shock.

"So what exactly have you been saying to our son?" Or maybe she wasn't that shocked considering she used 'our' instead of 'my'. Of course, her word choice may have been delivered to make a point.

"I may have said something like 'if you're going to do something silly like that don't get caught'. I was being sarcastic. I've realized that doesn't work on four-year-olds. Hey boys, let's visit your new sister and sort of cousin-in-law." Marcus said getting the two boys out of that room fast.

"I see you have this one trained very well. Marcus is actually terrified of you," Jim said sarcastically."

"That's because I think this guy actually loves me." Akia said with a sad smile, "You're not going to say anything about…"

"The fact that your four-year-old son sees the only guy who's been around as his father?" Jim prompted for her and she was unable to continue.

"Pretty much, yes. Including yesterday, I can still count on one hand how many times Sam has seen him. Just so you know I never asked JK to call Marcus that." She added most likely trying to appease Jim in case he was upset.

"I'm fine with it. I don't call Chris my dad as merely a joke." Jim said nonchalantly. Since his dad died long before Jim had the opportunity to yell at him for being an unfaithful asshole, Chris was the closest thing to a father, other than Damien, that Jim has ever had. Jim has always believed that parenting was more about love than biology.

"What about during the conference call with the admiralty four weeks prior, when you broke the news of Nyota's pregnancy? I believe you told others to congratulate Admiral Pike on becoming a grandfather again." Why did his husband have to bring up that point now? Most of the drugs must be out of his system at this point, since he was being all logical again.

"Okay, so maybe that one time I was being facetious. Those guys drive me crazy. I'm not sure how you and I are going to be able work with them on a daily basis without giving into the desire to start firing our phasers at the idiots." Jim was sure he would go crazy within a month. He didn't do well with 'desk' jobs. During his post-college/pre-Starfleet phase, Jim had worked as a computer programmer to pay the bills when he got tired of sleeping on other people's couches. If it wasn't for the fact that he decided to 'test' the company's security, there was no way he would have made it more than a week.

"Can we stay on focus? I have 1000 things to do today, including check up on my kids' new baby sister and get the kids ready to go back to school tomorrow," Akia said, actually smiling. It was enough to make Jim wonder if she got into the 'fun brownies'. Then again, maybe Marcus gave her a happy before she had to deal with her four-year-old and her ex-husband's newborn.

"Hey, I have no trouble with my nephew calling a guy father that actually deserves the title," Jim said shrugging.

"It would be hypocritical of us to condemn your child for referring to someone else by that particular honorific when we allow Amanda call Nyota by the title of mother." Trust Spock to be perfectly logical after being hopped up on God knows what the day before.

"In her case, it is more than just an honorific." Akia was the only person outside of him and Spock that knew that the technicians fucked up a little when they were creating Amanda and they left a little bit of Nyota's genetic material in the donor egg. That is why Amanda has curly hair. Nyota doesn't know and Jim is not brave enough to tell her, especially when she's hopped up on pregnancy hormones.

"I guess it is kind of the same thing," Akia said after a moment.

"Not quite. He is your boyfriend and you said it yourself, he is kind of in love with you," Jim pointed out.

"You are driving me crazy," Akia mumbled under breath. "Look, I'm here to talk about Nyota." Her voice sounded ominous.

"Are the babies okay?" Spock asked automatically.

"Your kids are fine. Despite the situation with the asshole, her blood pressure is okay." At that Spock let out a breath of air.

"Actually, it's about her dad," Akia started, before recounting the entire conversation that she had overheard between Alexis and her husband's doctors. Apparently things were worse than originally thought and Nyota needed to get to San Francisco now. Let's just say there was a reason why Alexis stopped back in San Francisco for 24 hours before coming on to the funeral.

"I know what type of friend she is, and she s not going to leave you right now. I mean, you still have to spread Winona's ashes and the reading of the will. She won't leave voluntarily if she thinks that you still need her." After knowing Ny for nearly 12 years, he knows his sister-in-law is right. Nyota does not abandon her friends, no matter how dire the situation is and the thing with her father is dire. "We need to get her to her father now," Akia said sharply.

"It is very difficult to make Nyota do anything she does not want to do," Spock said pointedly and Jim agreed with him.

"So basically she's a female version of Jim with a little bit more common sense," Akia said with hands-on hips, looking directly at Jim.

"Essentially yes," Spock said in agreement.

"You're not helping," Jim said in absolute annoyance.

"If you let her know that you do not need her, then she will leave," Akia said, squeezing his hand.

"But she needs to take Spock with her and I really do need him right now." Of course, now that things were relatively stable, Jim knew that Nyota needed Spock more. He knew he was being a selfish prick and she deserved more from him than that.

"Jim, if you could do anything over right now, what would you have done differently?" Jim thought about this question. He wished he had spoken to his mother instead of holding a grudge. He wished he would've picked up the COM unit when she called. He wished he would have scared the two asshole husbands away before they started screwing with his mom's heart and one of them gave her an STI that essentially ended her life. Although more than anything else, Jim wished he would've been here when his mother died.

"I wish I had showed up here three weeks ago," Jim said with a deep sigh. "Fine, I will talk to her."

It took an hour and Spock offering to make travel arrangements that were baby friendly and first-class, but she finally agreed to go. Okay, they had to convince her that he wouldn't do anything stupid like punching Sam out or trying to murder Charles or Frank in their sleep. Personally, he thinks they should have reversed those promises, since he just knows he's going to punch out his moronic former stepfathers if they show up to the will reading. They were also leaving Bones and baby Mandy to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Okay, Alexis was also staying until after the will reading in case he did need legal representation (or somebody to get him out of jail). She would be catching a very late shuttle.

However, T'Mandy was going with Spock because she didn't want to be away from her big brother right now. Jim was happy about this because it was an obvious sign that her crush on him was starting to go away. Or maybe it just transferred to his nephews. Either way, Jim was just happy that his five-year-old sister-in-law was no longer following him around.

While Spock was dealing with making travel reservations, Jim decided to spend some quality time with his favorite niece. However, Landon was already there trying to bond with his little sister.

"Hey, I guess I should apologize for making you an aunt before your first birthday. Just remember to always get your medication from a 'reputable' pharmacy." Amali did not respond, but Jim was trying not to laugh.

"Okay, so our 'dad' is a bit of a joke. Some days I wish he would've gotten a vasectomy a long time ago, but then you wouldn't be here and I think I kind of like you," Landon said with a laugh.

"So you don't have a father, but I think your mom is kind of cool. She realized your dad is an asshole years before my mom did, so I consider that a plus for her. You also have two uncles and a brand-new Aunt Marissa. Considering she is helping me deal with the whole mess regarding Madison getting pregnant, I think I'm going to like this having an aunt thing." That's when baby Amali started to scream.

"Also, you have me. Since I'm going to have a kid almost your age, I guess I should practice," he said, trying to rock her back and forth. Being a good uncle, Jim decided to have mercy on his inexperienced nephew and grabbed the baby.

Amali really was adorable. Fortunately for Amali (or Akia Junior as Jim likes to call her), she looked nothing like Sam, but she was the spitting image of Winona as an adorable little newborn. He almost cried at the thought that his mother would never meet this little girl, but Jim has cried a little too much in the last few days.

He was touched that Aurelan did not name her Winona because she already knew that Jim wanted to name baby girl Kirk -(too many last names for a small child) that. He wasn't as surprised as everyone else that the baby had the middle name Akia and he knew it wasn't just because the name meant the same thing as Winona or to spite Sam. That was a pretty nice bonus though. Most women, Hippocratic Oath or not, would not have helped the woman who inadvertently stole their husband, no matter how accidental the messy situation was. Akia Kirk was a strong woman and Akia Junior was going to need to be just as strong to put up with her absentee daddy. Although, as Landon said to the little girl before she started crying, Akia Junior did have cool uncles and aunts that will be there for her. Also, Aurelan had apparently been planning for this possible outcome for a while.

"I'll be okay," Aurelan said as she started breast-feeding the baby in front of him. Apparently, the little girl started crying with Landon because she wanted breakfast straight from the source, and his sister-in-law had no trouble doing that in front of him. When exactly did he become the guy that women have no trouble pulling out their breasts in front of him because they're sure he's not interested. It probably has something to do with him having a husband. His days as being the galaxy's greatest "womanizer" (he has no idea why everybody assumed that he was a zero on the Kinsey scale until the wedding invitations came out, typos and all) were long behind him, but it was the principle of the thing.

"I had a feeling this was going to happen. Sam has been intolerable for the last eight months. Most of my paycheck has been going into a separate account that Sam can't get into." Jim was pretty sure she wanted to say 'I put the money where he couldn't drink it away' but she held her tongue. Even now she was still protecting the bastard. Love is a really funny thing sometimes.

"I also have my resume already posted on every job website in the alpha quadrant. Akia offered to let me stay here until I find an apartment so that the boys can bond with their sister. That will help stretch things out. I'm sure I can find a job before the account funds run out." Jim wasn't expecting that. These were not the steps taken by somebody who was making a spur of the moment decision.

His mother never had an exit strategy no matter how bad her marriages became, and considering how bad her track record was, you would think she would have asked for a prenup when she married Charles. Winona's final fuck you to Charles was the fact that she never agreed to a divorce. If she signed the papers he would've walked away with half her money at a minimum. It would have been worse if the guy found a divorce attorney with half the skills of the one that took Bones to the cleaners 13 years ago.

"You have been planning this?" Jim asked her.

"You have no idea how bad the last few months have been. It's worse when we're home. It wasn't like I could really get away from him on the colony. After he found out about Winona's death it just got worse. I just can't raise my baby with a man like that. He's not the man I married anymore." She was crying at that point.

"Did he hit you?" Jim asked with concern, because in Jim's mind that is the only thing that could explain her reaction.

"It was one time. He didn't mean it." Jim didn't reply immediately, he just gave her a dark look. He'd heard that line before. Last time it was from an engineer who ended up dead when her partner beat the hell out of her.

"If it didn't mean anything, you wouldn't be looking for a divorce attorney right now," Jim said with biting sarcasm.

"Maybe it did mean something, but I'm still not going to press charges. I already felt like I didn't want to go back, but at the same time I was telling myself that Sam really does love me and he is just acting like this because of his mom and the baby." Jim could tell her resolve was wavering and he promised himself that he wouldn't let her go back. Jim grew up being hit all the time and he wasn't going to have Akia Junior go through the same thing.

"Love doesn't involve bruises unless you're using a safe word. The idiot also gave you some strange alien strain of chlamydia, which may be another reason why you delivered early. You can't go back to him. I'll help you in any way I can to make sure you don't go back." His soon-to-be former sister-in-law yelled at him at that moment for hacking into her medical files. He couldn't exactly get back to sleep after all the baby excitement the night before and he needed to do something to calm his mind.

Jim was slightly surprised that Akia Junior managed to sleep through the entire tirade. He was taking the baby back to her own little bassinet when Spock grabbed him and dragged him back to the main house and a conversation with his four-year-old that he wants to repress.

First, Jim learned that his adorable daughter knows way too much about his sex life. No four-year-old should know about threesomes and polyamorous relationships. He blames Bones and a few other members of the Enterprise crew for forgetting that baby Vulcans have big ears. Even he wanted to hide under the closest piece of furniture when his baby girl asked, "Since you got Mommy Nyota pregnant, doesn't that mean that you're her boyfriend too?" To get out of answering that question, Jim was going to have to find a pet that he's not allergic to for their brand-new house in the San Francisco suburbs once the idiots-that-be ground him.

Although, he's not completely upset about his daughter's eavesdropping because he now knows that Admiral Chicken Dick really is out to get him. He cringed when his daughter repeated curse words and homophobic slurs that he really did not want his four-year-old to say or even know that she picked up from the evil Admiral. (Maybe it's a good thing that the man wants nothing to do with his grandson because Jim didn't want the man around any of his children.)

Jim almost wanted to laugh at the fact that the 'chicken guy' automatically assumed that Jim would fall flat on his ass without his friends and family to prop him up. Okay, maybe the guy thought he would be so miserable that Jim would just leave. But Jim wasn't that type of person. He didn't believe in no-win scenarios and he definitely would not take Chicken Dick fucking with his family passively. Jim was planning on being the best God damn member of the admiralty ever, just to fuck with Dana's head. He was going to make damn sure that the guy couldn't do this again. Jim was taking the bastard down.

However, right now Jim was going to focus on making sure Bones got to stay with the one woman on any planet that can deal with his constant state of being a total asshole. Nyota was quite skilled with handling men that you want to punch out every once in a while. That morning, while Nyota was packing, operation 'get a ring on it' was born. Their mission was to get Nyota married six days from now by whatever means necessary.

He honestly felt that Spock had the harder job of getting Nyota to realize that she was head over heels in love with Bones and maybe, just maybe, this one won't fuck her over like a certain engineer who will remain nameless. Okay, the job was so hard that he was pretty sure that Other Spock might need to be called in for backup. All Jim had to do was fill out a form to be able to perform a marriage on earth and convince Bones to propose again in the most romantic way possible. Jim was thinking of something involving special T-shirts and violins.

The marriage license thing was easy. He was able to fill out the form while waiting for the idiots at the funeral home to hand over his mother's ashes. At least he hoped it was his mother's ashes, because knowing those idiots he really was not holding out much hope. (No, he still has no ideal were to spread them.)

The real problem was trying to find 20 minutes to actually talk to the doctor without being interrupted by small children or evil brothers that somehow miraculously managed to get out of lockup. Okay, maybe Jim could have said something on the ride home from the funeral parlor, but Jim really didn't feel like talking about anything with his mother's ashes in the vehicle. Also, Amanda was singing the song that does not end and, well, Jim just didn't want to interrupt her. Okay, so she may have provided the perfect segue when she began to talk about why a horse carriage ride in the park would be the perfect way to propose. However, Jim did not want to address his daughter's extreme wish for Bones to become her stepdad. He really didn't understand her enthusiasm because other than Damien all his stepdad's were pretty horrible and even the good one he did not want in the beginning.

Talking to Bones at lunch was impossible too, because his mom's estate attorney showed up with ice cream cake and Winona's will. She also brought a couple of bottles of Merlot for the grown-ups and Jim needed half a bottle to get through the dividing of his mother's assets without his husband there to hold his hand.

Unfortunately, one of Sam's friends got him out of jail and Sam used to date Winona's lawyer's assistant. She was happy to tell Sam that the will reading was happening at 2 PM at the Kirk family compound. What cemented in Jim's mind that his brother was a complete asshole was that he didn't even bother to go see his baby daughter (although, he didn't flip out about her middle name). He didn't even ask any questions about her health, despite the fact that she was almost a month premature.

"Dammit, I wanted a boy. I bet the kid is not even mine because I don't have girls," was Sam's only comment on the matter. Because of his promise to his husband, he could not punch his brother out, but that didn't mean that he could not spit in the man's tea. He was half tempted to put the not-Xanax in there too, but Jim didn't feel like risking an allergic reaction if he accidentally drank the wrong tea.

Thanks to the Kelvin blood-money and the Tarsus blood-money his mom was a very wealthy lady. Although Charles was a complete asshole he did know his way around the intergalactic stock market and made his mom millions of credits. Let's just say there was a reason why his mom could afford to practically build her own mini clinic so she could be treated for cancer in the comfort of her own home.

His mom was heavily invested in several bioengineering firms and that computer company that Jim tried to work at during college. Apparently, there was a reason why he wasn't fired for 'unauthorized firewall testing'. She owned three restaurants besides Jake's Place and was heavily invested in several small businesses around Riverside. Now Jim knew why Charles was so angry that Winona refused to get a divorce. The only thing she left Charles was her favorite vibrator because she said it was better than him at most things.

Frank was given a copy of the Idiots Guide to Safe Sex and a certificate good for free STI screenings for life. Damien was given her ownership stake in his favorite coffee shop and her heart. Admiral Stepdad just received a bunch of files that made the man smile. The restaurant formally known as Jake's Place went to Marissa. Jim received the townhouse in Berkeley, his mom's house boat, and her log cabin. (He also received applications for every doctorate program in the San Francisco area along with his own postgraduate college fund.) He was also given the option of keeping the 'Tarsus bloodmoney' but he threw it into the general trust because he didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Contrary to what Sam said during the eulogy, he was in the will. Winona left him an all-expenses paid trip to rehab. She also left Aurelan enough money to get the hell away from Sam.

Everything else went in the general trust which was split among all the grandchildren, including Marissa's daughter Calista, which made Sam really unhappy. By unhappy, Jim means that Sam managed to break a window, cause his soon-to-be-former wife to break down in tears, and was promptly escorted off the property by another robot correction officer. Landon was the one who called the cops on his own father. Jim got to spend the second part of the evening filling out a police report and getting a restraining order.

By the time he got back to the house he had just enough energy to eat something, make sure the kids ate something, and have a very long talk with Spock about how much he hates his entire crazy family or rather just Sam. Okay, they may have had communicator sex, but he sort of needed something after that horrible day. The farewell make out session before putting Spock, the baby sister-in-law, and Nyota on the shuttle just wasn't enough. He tried to tell himself that it will only be two more days, but he's not sure he can make it.

He was kind of hoping to sleep in, even if he doesn't have the pleasure of waking up in his husband's arms. Instead, this time it was Amanda, baby JK, and the baby brother-in-law waking him up too early by jumping on his bed. Even though he was metaphorically burying his mother, he was still on vacation dammit and he should get to sleep in one time. The fact that Bones took care of the kids (despite the fact that Amanda walked out of the bedroom wearing her Vulcan robes because she decided to dress like a Vulcan today) just made him want to make sure Bones ended up being his children's stepdad even more. He didn't trust anyone else to take care of his children. With enemies like Dana, he wasn't sure how long he was going to live. He didn't want to leave behind the mess that his father did.

He was planning to talk to Bones about proposing after breakfast. Instead, he was dragged clothing shopping for his foster son and baby niece by his sister-in-law, after dropping the kids off at school (and another failed attempt at scattering his mother's ashes followed by more quality lawyer time). So he may have suggested that Bones go with them for the sole purpose of engagement ring shopping as a joke, but that resulted in him getting a bagel upside the head.

After having a fashion plate daughter for four years, he was much more suited for picking out cute and frilly dresses and he mostly dealt with getting things for Akia Junior. Since his sister-in-law was pretending that she was having a boy, she didn't exactly have anything for the little girl to wear. After dealing with five boys, Akia was an expert at shopping for a boy and took care of Sunk. After about a week around Akia, he was getting comfortable enough with her to actually call her the Vulcan word for aunt.

If anybody knew how many frilly pink and lacey dresses he picked out for Amali, his reputation would be completely shot. He did find a T-shirt that says 'my uncle's ship is bigger than your ship' and a little Captain's uniform replica. He was pissed that they didn't have it in Amanda's size, but she did technically have her own official uniform (that took a small miracle to actually get her to put on). Okay, so he may have picked out a few things for his new babies too, but that was mostly because he hated shopping and did not want to do it more than once.

He arrived back at the house, with six bags filled with every piece of baby clothing that his brand-new niece could possibly want, to the sight of his big burly doctor friend playing tea party with Amanda, Marissa, and Calista. He was even wearing one of Akia summer hats. It was better than last time. He had no choice but to send Nyota a text message of the picture with the caption, "Any guy willing to play tea party with your kid when you're not there to appreciate the humiliation of it should be married immediately." Nyota's only response was to tell him that Akia sent the same message earlier.

After a very long conversation with Aurelan, where she told Jim that all the baby gifts were too much, Jim finally got his 20 minutes alone with his grumpy doctor friend. Unfortunately, those 20 minutes involved Jim's least favorite activity, packing.

"I hate this and I have to do it one more time before we get back on Enterprise." Jim was hoping that Bones would tell him that he would not be coming back with him and Jim could bring up the whole Nyota thing that way, but his friend did not take the bait.

"It's not exactly my favorite thing either. I have no idea how you talked me into packing up your kids' stuff. How exactly do these kids end up with so much crap?" Bones asked as he tried to squeeze another Barbie doll into Amanda's luggage.

"Because they're cute and everybody buys them presents. I think that one belongs to my sister-in-law. They left in kind of a hurry. That was T'Pay's 'I'm sorry I married your father just so he wouldn't end up in a completely love-free marriage to some uptight Vulcan who will constantly ridicule your big brother and I subsequently fell in love with someone else' guilt gift," Jim said, rolling his eyes. He's kind of happy that baby girl is now safely in San Francisco because Jim is pretty sure she's not ready to be in the same time zone as her mother right now. Let's just say their interactions at the funeral yesterday were not good and leave it at that.

"I know you want to say something to me. You already gave me your 'hurt her and I will throw you out an airlock' speech, so I'm not sure what you want to tell me now," Bones said as he tried to squeeze the teddy bear that Jim got Amanda at the store today into the already cramped suitcase.

"Actually, if you hurt her, Spock will tear off your balls before I have a chance to," Jim said, glaring in a way that caused Bones to shiver. "You have seen firsthand how protective Spock is of those he cares about."

"It's the only time I know for sure he's not a computer. He wouldn't let T'Pay get anywhere near T'Mandy after T'Pay was attacked with her guilt gift, despite the fact he was hopped up on the mystery drug laced hot chocolate," the doctor said honestly.

"That's just how Spock is. We both see Nyota as family, the type we actually like, and we're going to be very protective of her. She's the mother of my children and I care about her. You are the grumpy doctor of her dreams and she wants to spend the rest of her life being Mrs. Grumpy Doctor. I'm just trying to make that happen." That resulted in one of Amanda's shoes being thrown at his head. The little child-size replica of Nyota's extensive shoe collection really hurt.

"Do you really need to be such a prick right now? The ring shopping invitation this morning was not subtle," Bones asked, practically growling at him.

"First, when have I ever been subtle?"

"Never, that's why we have to save your ass so often when negotiations go 'phaser in the face' wrong," Bones said with annoyance.

"Second, I'm always a prick. Right now, I'm a prick who is going to get the woman of your dreams to say yes the next time you ask her to marry you. I'm thinking something involving stuffed animals," Jim said with a smile.

"Your kid has a big mouth!" Bones groused at him as soon as he realized how Jim knew about his original proposal.

"I blame Spock. He's so chatty. Those Vulcan ears guarantee that he has the very best gossip and Amanda was just following in his footsteps," Jim said with another all too innocent smile as Bones just glared at him.

"I think marrying Nyota is brilliant as long as you are doing it for the right reason." Because he saw Nyota as family (the type that he can actually tolerate and can sleep with without it being morally reprehensible), Jim had to make sure Bones was doing this for the right reasons. He found out later on that Scotty only moved in with Nyota because he was afraid he would lose her otherwise, even though the thought of being with her like that scared the hell out of him.

"I still think getting married so we won't be separated is a better reason than last time," Bones said, not really looking at him.

"Anything is an improvement on getting married because the contraceptive failed miserably. I don't know why people in this day and age get married for such a silly reason," Jim said as he was finally able to zip up his daughter's Princess suitcase. Seriously, how did that kid get all her clothes scattered all over this place in an only four days?

"So you're saying you wished your brother never married Akia?" Bones asked poignantly.

"No, because I like her so much better than my brother and my nephews are cool," Jim responded flippantly.

"Have you spoken to him since the incident yesterday?" Bones asked after a moment.

"Not really. I think I would just punch him out if I did. I don't want things to keep going this way, but I don't know what to do to make it better. I have this ominous feeling that the next time I see my brother, it will be because I was called in to identify his body," Jim said sadly. "I don't want to talk about my family. I want to talk about making you my children's official stepfather."

"You and Amanda are too much alike for my own sanity," the doctor said. just shaking his head.

"Of course we are. You know that we will just keep bugging you until you pop the question again," Jim said with a singsong voice.

"So what's this grand scheme of yours?" Bones asked in acquiescence.

"Do you think we can pick out a ring and a custom-made bear before the mall closes at nine?" Jim asked him, giving his friend his 'I have an ingenious plan' smirk.

* * *

Okay, being a celebrity has its advantages, and showing up ready to drop a lot of cash for a wedding ring will convince anyone to open the store late. So Jim may have neglected to mention that in her will, Winona left an obscene amount of credits to Bones and Marcus for the sole purpose of getting engagement rings. Jim will not repeat Akia's reaction except to say that Amanda's swear jar account received quite the cash infusion because of it. Due to all the curse words dropped during this vacation alone, Amanda should be able to buy her Barbie's dream starship with matching shuttle.

Bones also went with his custom-made bear idea, but Jim doesn't know specifically what he had made. Only Amanda knows and she can't be bribed right now.

When he woke up at 2 AM because he really can't sleep without his husband next to him, he tried to sneak in to see what the man was planning, but he couldn't find anything. Instead he managed to find himself in the kitchen hoping that a nondrug hot chocolate will make him fall back asleep for a couple of hours. There he found Akia trying to get her sort-of-namesake to sleep.

"If you are going to be up this time of night, give me one of those bottles," she said, pointing to the fridge. Sure enough, he found several bottles of what he assumed to be breast milk in there.

"Why are you on baby duty?" he asked groggily.

"Because while you were helping your best friend figure out how to propose to your baby's Mama, Sam's lawyer showed up with a court order demanding a paternity test to prove that little Amali is not his for the sole purpose of getting the baby's trust fund," Akia said in pure annoyance.

"Considering the baby looks exactly like our mother, I'm pretty sure the poor girl has some of Sam's genetic material," Jim said as he grabbed himself a beer out of the fridge. The sun was not up yet, so he could still drink.

"The scan confirmed the same thing, poor child. Aurelan was also served with divorce papers. He is trying to get all of their joint assets and the baby's trust fund. I figure I could let Aurelan sleep through one feeding time under the circumstances. She did name her after me," Akia said nonchalantly.

"He's such a fucking asshole. I'm the one who needs a DNA test. There's no way I can be related to a prick like that," Jim said, shaking his head.

"I think it's the nature versus nurture thing. I spoke to Spock's 'great uncle' and apparently, the first time around Sam was only a little bit of an asshole. The man that we have to deal with is a side effect of spending his formidable years with Frank and Grandma Kirk," she said bitterly.

Considering Frank and Grandma Kirk were also contesting the will because they were not in it, Jim could see that she had a point. Despite all her bad marriages, his mom was a good judge of character, considering that the only people actually in her will were people who did not want the money.

"That would screw with anybody. Pike said it's a small miracle that I came out as well-adjusted as I did," Jim joked as he sat down beside her. Akia just nodded her head in agreement. "I would leave Starfleet before I let my kids be raised by people like that."

"That's because you can afford to. I find it deeply ironic that Winona got all that money when she really didn't need it anymore. Other than to pay for your schooling and to help some of the local businesses, I don't think she touched a single credit of that money." As far as he could tell, his mother invested everything.

"She did call it blood money for a reason. What about her sizable donation for the clinic?"

"I forgot about that. She said she wanted to do something good with it for once," Akia said with a sad smile.

"Investing in finding a cure for the disease that killed you seems like a good way to use money that you received because someone died," Jim said, taking another drink.

"You know that you and Sam were the most important thing in the world to her. You have no idea how many sacrifices she made for you."

"I don't think she ever saw it as a sacrifice, because I don't see it as a sacrifice when I do something for Amanda. I'm about to become a member of the idiots-that-be because I know it is best for the kids and Nyota is going to stay planet bound for six months just to keep the babies safe, even though she hates being planet side more than I do. These last few weeks made me realize I'd rather be remembered as a good father than a great captain." He never thought he would utter those words but it was true.

"They are your legacy. Just like you are Winona's legacy. All the good things about her, such as her loyalty, her ability to put others first, and her ability to love unconditionally, live on in you and her many grandchildren." She almost sounds like she is on the verge of tears.

"What about Sam? He is missing most of those qualities," Jim quipped.

"Sometimes goodness and human decency skip a generation, but Landon's good and that's all I care about," Akia said with a laugh, most likely because she was trying not to cry.

"Hopefully, this little girl will take after her," Jim said, smiling sadly at Akia Junior.

"I think Winona would've loved to have met her," Akia said sadly, and Jim couldn't help but agree. The rest of the night they sat there in silence as Akia Junior slept on, or at least they stayed in silence until Jim had to wake up the kids to catch their 8 AM shuttle to San Francisco.

To be continued

* * *

Not to give much away but I need your suggestions for a really good love songs. Preferably something that is wedding appropriate and with lyrics that are timeless. I'll take anything from bluegrass to Opera.


	31. It's Worth It

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Since Nyota and Bones have taken over the last few chapters I thought I needed to give you some cute/sexy Jim and Spock time in this chapter.

I tried very hard to get this story done before Star Trek Into Darkness came out but that didn't happen. I blame it on my family reunion in Puerto Rico but it did give me great material for the end of the story. Since I get inspiration from everything I'm going to run with it.

Some of the events that happened in the second film did occur in this universe but there are some obvious differences. Because not everybody has seen the new film yet, I'm not going to go into details about what I decided to use or why things are different in this dimension. It will be obvious if you've already seen the film.

I'll go more in detail about what's different in the sequel. However, I decided that the point where the universes split will be the incident where Nyota's biological mother was killed. That did not happen in the Into Darkness universe and therefore the butterfly effect took over from there.

Yes, there will be a follow-up story partially set in this universe. I've had this idea for a while were a Jim from another dimension, who is in complete denial about his Spock related feelings, ends up in this universe to see what he could have if he just got his head out of his ass (and kept his dick to himself). I was originally planning to do it with Jim Prime but I'm not sure I can do his characterization justice. He is very different from the alternate reality Jim Kirk. The Jim from Into Darkness might be an interesting alternative that I can work with because he is closer to the characterization that I'm used to writing but still different and he needs to be kicked upside the head. I would love to know your opinion on this. Should I use Jim Prime or Into Darkness Jim? Should I be really ambitious and try to do both universes, because really they both need to be kicked upside the head?

* * *

Chapter 31: It's Worth It

To say that the last few days were extremely difficult would be a gross misrepresentation of the situation at hand. His father's divorce coupled with the death of James's mother would have been difficult to deal with under normal circumstances. Adding the discovery of Mr. Uhura's true medical condition and Admiral Richard Dana's plan to get James out of Starfleet had made the situation much more unmanageable. (He personally wanted to forget about his own temporary incapacitation due to the incident with the pharmaceutical brownies.)

Spock did not want to leave James, despite the fact that Winona's funeral was the day before and his husband seemed to be functioning this morning without the need of pharmaceutical brownies. Yet, the Sam situation lingered, complicated by the birth of Amali. Spock could feel James' guilt over leaving Sam in jail and essentially forcing him to miss the birth of his first daughter. Spock wondered if Sam wanted to be there in the first place. Instead, Spock just let James hold him as he pretended to sleep because he knew James needs this contact.

However, Nyota needed him as well. Because they only have a friendship bond, Spock could not communicate with her telepathically unless they were physically touching. But he could feel her general emotions when they were in close proximity. Since she has been on earth, Spock has felt mostly a mixture of worry and sadness from his friend, with the occasional moments of euphoria when she was in the company of Doctor McCoy. When Spock held her as she cried, he felt everything. She was overwhelmed. She was afraid for the babies and her father. She was fearful of losing her family. She was furious at Admiral Dana for putting her in this position where she would have to choose between her lover and her family.

The emotion Spock felt the most was her fear. Not just the fear of losing her family, but the fear of being alone and being unloved. The 'Mr. Scott situation' was heavily responsible for these feelings, despite their reconciliation. Snippets of the conversation played in her mind as he continued to hold her. Spock also felt like he was a contributing factor, because even though they had a very solid relationship, it was not exactly a traditional romantic relationship. He could only describe it as existing in a gray space between friend and lover. (But he did love her and her pain was debilitating. At that moment he would have done just about anything to make her pain go away.) He could sense that maybe she was afraid that the relationship with Leonard would never completely be what it was supposed to be, and therefore maybe she should stop trying now before she became too emotionally involved.

As he felt everything, he knew he had to go with her, because even though she was the strongest woman that he has ever met (not counting his mother), Nyota could not bear this without his assistance. He was well aware that she would need a push before his conversations with Akia or Alexis. Jim could sense this as well, and was not going to force him to choose. So of course Spock quickly made arrangements for her, his sister, and himself to arrive in San Francisco as soon as possible. When their daughter, James, and Alexis conspired to get Nyota to stop letting the fear control her and go after what she really wanted, he agreed to assist, mostly because he could see what she really felt for Leonard when no one else could.

Even though Jim let him go willingly, their parting was emotional. James continued kissing him outside of the security checkpoint until the last possible moment. Actually, this may be the wrong adjective. It was more like, as close to sexual activity as you can get in a public space without actually warranting arrest. He saw Nyota's face and she seemed stressed by their interactions.

"I know that Jim said it would be okay if you left with me for San Francisco now, but I can't help but feel horrible for making you leave," Nyota said once they were safely in the waiting area for the shuttle and his sister was preoccupied with some learning game that Akia said every child should have on their PADD. [Akia also gave her a copy of _My Mom and Dad Still Love Me (Even If They Don't Really like Each Other Right Now)_ and _It's Not Your Fault_. Apparently, both books helped her children immensely during her divorce from Sam.]

"I don't think Jim really wanted you to go, judging by the way he was molesting you." The fact that she wasn't smirking as she spoke was more telling than her actual words.

"That is typical behavior from James. Such displays have never bothered you before, unless you are upset because Dr. McCoy did not give you such a sendoff." Leonard and Nyota had avoided each other for most of the morning; or rather Nyota had avoided him.

"I'm trying really hard not to get arrested on this vacation," Nyota replied with an icy glare. "I don't feel like getting picked up for a lewd public act. You do remember the incident seven months ago where I had to negotiate your release after you and Jim engaged in a slightly offensive PDA that resulted in the weapons being brought out?"

"That slightly offensive public display of affection was Jim caressing my backside. The misunderstanding was triggered by someone accidentally or purposely leaving off any information about the fact that the planet still finds same-sex relationships offensive," Spock told her before realizing that she was purposely trying to divert his attention. "Why have you been avoiding Leonard this morning?"

"I'm not…" Nyota sputtered. "How much did Amanda tell you?"

"You are highly emotionally distressed and therefore you are projecting your emotions. I can sense your stress, frustration, sadness, and overall fear," Spock told her, without confirming Amanda's involvement.

"Well, you would be frustrated too if you found out some asshole in power is essentially fucking with your family because his son can't keep his dick to himself," she said icily.

"The loss of an important family member is also affecting me. I am upset at the current situation because you and James are upset." He did not tell her he was equally frustrated on his own accord and had the desire to render Admiral Dana unconscious. More accurately, he had the desire to strangle the man in a nonsexual way. "James is starting to see the advantages to his upcoming assignment, such as being able to spend more time with his nephew and brand-new niece, but I am not entirely sure if the situation will be completely advantageous for all parties involved."

"Translation: you're worried about the chaos that Jim will bring being one of the idiots in charge, when he despises the idiots in charge," she prompted.

"Your assessment is accurate. However, I am also concerned about you. The next six months will be a difficult adjustment for you."

"I don't think difficult would be the word I would use. I'm pregnant with two children that I am actually planning on raising as my children, my father is ill, and I'm being stripped away from my support system because of a vindictive chauvinistic prick. Difficult would definitely not be the word I would use." You could hear her pain as she spoke.

"I will always be here for you," he said, grabbing her hand and running a finger over it. He saw the gesture as more of his personal equivalent of kissing her on the forehead than the overtly sexual gesture that his sister probably perceived it to be. He would have to speak with her later about it.

"You are going to be several light-years away. There's only so much you can convey via deep space Instant Messenger. In addition to missing more morning sickness, you and Jim are also going to miss the first kick and the next visual scan of the baby. It is just not going to be the same," she said sadly.

"Military spouses being away from their partner during gestation is not a new occurrence."

"No, it's not. I will not just ask you and Jim to stay with me, because according to what Amanda overheard, that's what Dana wanted and I don't want to give Admiral Chicken the satisfaction of getting Jim out of Starfleet. It's just…" Nyota stopped there, uncertain of how to continue.

"You expected to share these experiences with Leonard, and now that he is being forced to remain on Enterprise, you feel deprived," Spock supplied for her.

"It wasn't conscious, and I know that Leonard is not the father. He's never going to replace you and Jim in that capacity. It is just that I want him here. He's my best friend and…" It hurt Spock a little to know that he no longer had that title, but Spock knew it needed to be this way. Nyota had that title until James invaded his world and changed everything. Now Nyota was his best friend, not counting his husband.

"He is your James." Spock said it as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Yes he is. Leonard asked me to marry him," she said in a whisper. "I didn't say no, I just…" Her words hung in the air as they were called in to board the shuttle.

He wanted to talk to her more about this, but he was unable to do so because his sister requested him to read _It's Not Your Fault_ to her, because apparently it should be read to you by an adult. It may have been an excuse for her to speak to him about his physical contact with Nyota, but in light of the circumstances he allowed it to occur.

By the end of the flight, he was more familiar with his sister's apprehensions about being the only kid with divorced parents at her ultra-exclusive Vulcan preparatory school. He had not told her that this would not be an issue because their father was having the Vulcan equivalent of a midlife crisis and had decided to move the entire family to earth without consulting with her. T'Mandy blamed herself because she was convinced that if she had not brought up the fact that her mom had a girlfriend, that maybe her family could continue the way it had for so many years. Spock tried to convince her that that was not the issue, but T'Mandy didn't believe him. Spock had composed a letter on the subject to his father; however, he was uncertain if such actions would be beneficial.

Of course, because his attentions were focused on T'Mandy, Spock did not have time to talk to Nyota about Leonard's marriage proposal or anything else in the all too short shuttle ride. With the time zone difference, it was actually earlier in San Francisco than it was when they left Iowa City, yet he was still completely unable to convince Nyota to get lunch or go to the hotel before visiting the rehabilitation center.

The center was a Starfleet facility, and it reminded Spock way too much of Enterprise's medical facilities to be merely coincidental. T'Mandy stayed in the waiting area, looking distastefully at the children's building blocks. A nurse named Aaron walked both Nyota and him to her father's room. What Spock saw in that room was jarring, despite the fact that Leonard had given him a full medical briefing on Mr. Uhura. The man in the bed was not the same strong man that he first met 12.4 years ago. His muscular built was gone and he seemed to be half the size of what he had been.

Even before his relationship with Nyota turned sexual, Spock found Mr. Uhura slightly intimidating, and it had nothing to do with his strong physical presence. During their first interaction, he actually told Spock, "you will be the father of my grandchildren, but you will not be my daughter's husband. Your soul belongs to another and so does hers. You will be her best friend, but not the love of her life. Someone else will claim that place." This was a slightly strange thing to hear considering the fact that it would be at least another year before his sexual relationship with Nyota would begin.

At some point, the man became almost a second father to him, someone he could at least talk to when things with his father became too much. Although Spock was currently wondering who composed the last few emails that he received from the man laying in the bed in front of him.

Seeing the once vibrant and strong man so weak was distressing. Spock was sure it took all of Nyota's strength not to cry. She just sat next to the bed and held her father's hand. Spock could see in his eyes that Mr. Uhura did not want Nyota to be there. Spock was sure it was not because he did not desire the company of his only child, but rather that he did not want his daughter to see him as someone less than strong.

Spock thought about Amanda and wondered if he would ever feel the same way. He did not believe that to be the case, but he could see James behaving in such a way. Jim hated letting anybody see him in a position of vulnerability. He hated showing weakness. Spock could not help but wonder if his husband acquired this quality from Winona. Spock believed that in addition to trying to protect Jim from the true gravity of her condition, she also concealed this information from James because she did not want Jim to see her in such a weak state.

They did not do the mind meld because Nyota was too drained for something that emotionally tasking, or at least that's what she claimed. Spock agreed that Nyota was too in shock right then for a third-party meld to be successful. He would need to mentally prepare her first.

They left 55 minutes later when Aaron came back to ask them to please collect T'Mandy, who was currently interrogating one of the doctors. Nyota seemed visibly emotionless as they left the room, but Spock knew her too well. He was sure that the trip to the bathroom to regurgitate was not solely the result of baby-related nausea.

They had a late lunch at Nyota's favorite deli/bar from when she was a student. His sister was slightly disturbed when Nyota started dipping fried pickles in peanut butter, but she said nothing else before going back to her grilled eggplant sandwich. Spock remembered Nyota eating strange snacks a lot during her pregnancy with Amanda. He was somewhat sad that he would not be making late-night snack runs this time.

They did not discuss anything regarding Mr. Uhura, the demise of Sarek's marriage, or Dr. McCoy's proposal at the restaurant. It was a peaceful lunch, followed by a less than peaceful encounter with an Admiral that they both disliked immensely. His Vulcan upbringing was the only reason why he did not punch the man as he faked sympathy for Nyota's situation with her father. However, he did enjoy Nyota regurgitating on the man once more, and his young sister asking the man why he did not want to claim Sunk as his grandson. He promptly left before physical violence became necessary.

The unpleasantness continued when they arrived at the hotel, only to realize that their arrival was leaked to the press. Spock arriving alone with Nyota would lead to speculation about their relationship that was highly unwanted. Spock was almost positive Admiral Dana had disclosed this information to the press, because only the Starfleet Operations Center knew that he would be staying at this particular establishment. As much as Spock was trying to avoid it, their only option was to stay at Alexis's house.

As expected, Nyota did come apart, but it did not occur until they arrived at her stepmother's house and T'Mandy was safely preoccupied with the homes state of the art entertainment system. The tears began to fall as soon as Nyota realized that her father had never occupied this place. Spock was currently consoling her as she cried on top of him in the guest room.

She did not talk about her father. It was too raw for her to articulate. He tried to talk to her about Leonard's marriage proposal, but she did not allow that to happen. They did talk about her fears about being a good mother and a good daughter. Spock was starting to realize that a lot of Nyota's reluctance to recognize her place as Amanda's mother was because she had been afraid she would lose her, especially in light of her earlier miscarriage. Nyota was slightly shocked when he informed her that legally she was also listed as Amanda's mother on the birth certificate and had the same parental rights as he and Jim because they were never extinguished.

After yelling at him for not telling her something so important, Nyota promptly fell asleep on top of him and Spock decided to go to the other guest room/office to call James.

Jim also believed that Admiral Dana was responsible for the press descending upon the hotel. They only talked briefly about the situation with Nyota's father. Spock felt it was too much of a trigger for James, considering the similarities the situation had with Winona's predicament.

They spoke about Sam's antics at the will reading briefly. Again, Spock was not that surprised that Sam did not want to even meet his daughter. He just found the entire situation sad. He was surprised to find that Winona bequeathed James and him a very large house in Berkeley. Spock could not help but wonder if the location was a bit conspicuous, considering the fact that James was left a college fund and graduate school applications. Spock suggested that Jim consider getting his doctorate in physics. James jokingly responded with, "if I'm going to go back to college to actually learn something, without the constant partying this time, I'm going to law school so I can figure out how to fuck with our fellow admirals using their own damn rules against the assholes". James may have been joking, but considering how often Jim has been incarcerated or brought up before the admiralty for doing something technically against regulations, a working knowledge of various legal systems throughout the Federation might be advantageous.

Eventually the conversation moved to a discussion of James' failed attempt to spread his mother's ashes. Spock could not help but feel that it was his fault for leaving Jim alone.

"Don't feel bad about not being here," James said, picking up on Spock's distress. "Honestly, I seriously doubt that my first attempt at scattering my mom's ashes would have been successful even with you holding my hand the entire time. I just couldn't do it. I'm not ready. It makes everything too final." Spock could understand Jim's hesitation. Spock did not accept Amanda's death truly until the Memorial service, even though he watched Vulcan implode.

"Maybe we can find some place that meant something to your mother here in San Francisco where we can spread her ashes," Spock suggested.

"She did spend a lot of time in San Francisco between marriages. Do you think we'll need a permit to spread her ashes off of the Golden Gate Bridge?" Spock considered it a testament to James maturity that he was asking Spock this question before actually attempting to spread his mother's ashes from the bridge.

"Possibly," Spock said, making a mental reminder to look at the possibility.

"So, how did your part of 'operation get a ring on it' go?" James asked in an attempt to move on to a much more comfortable subject.

"We had a brief discussion at the spaceport before boarding our shuttle. However, the situation with Nyota's father and T'Mandy's distress over her parents' divorce prevented us from having a deeper discussion about it. The books that your sister-in-law have provided have been quite beneficial," Spock told his husband in all seriousness.

"At least this is going to be a much more amicable divorce. That will probably be because your father and T'Pay can be around each other without throwing stuff at one another. Also unlike Sam, T'Pay actually gives a fuck about her children." Jim's words were bitter, but there was truth there.

"I believe so," Spock responded truthfully. Maybe bringing her girlfriend to the funeral yesterday was inappropriate, but at least she sought out her children. James' brother has never done such a thing.

"Surprisingly, you're doing better than me because I still haven't had time to speak with Bones. It's been a long day, complete with filling out police reports and the dividing of my mom's anything-but-meager possessions. However, I can now perform a marriage ceremony anywhere on earth." For some odd reason James chose to take off his shirt at that moment. James was still quite muscular due to his workout routine of chasing Amanda around the ship and their three-times-a-week sparring sessions that usually resulted in sexual intercourse against the wall in the training room. Actually, said activity has happened on the floor multiple times, as well as the shower facilities located in the exercise area.

"That is some progress," Spock said as he tried not to remember the incident four weeks previously in said training room, when they had somehow managed to destroy several pieces of exercise equipment.

"Amanda is doing better than I am. Although, that's mostly because she has Bones wrapped around her little finger. On the way home from picking up the ashes, she lobbied for a proposal involving a horse-drawn carriage and violins." Judging by his husband's tone, James was being entirely serious.

"I am deeply troubled by Amanda's idealistic views on romance and relationships," Spock said, genuinely worried. Maybe they let her watch too many fairy tales with happy endings and where relationships rarely dealt with anything of true difficulty. He loved James with his entire being, but there were some days when he really did want to strangle the man, and not as a prelude to intercourse. Marriage was difficult. Yet, Spock could not imagine his life without James.

"Considering she knows that we occasionally have sex and drunken make out sessions with Nyota, I don't think her notions are that idealistic," James said with a snicker, "but maybe we should cut down on the Disney princess movies."

"You may be right," Spock said as James continued undressing in front of him.

"No more talk about our daughter or her mom. I've had a beyond crappy day involving my brother being an asshole and finding out that my mom liked using sex toys. She left her favorite one to Charles. That was the only thing she left the dick." Jim said that part with a shiver. Spock knew that he would find such a similar revelation about his parents disconcerting.

"I can understand your distress," Spock responded simply.

"It's enough to almost make me get rid of that wonderful phallic thing that we brought with us. Fortunately, it's in your suitcase," James said just as he dropped his pants. Spock had a pretty good idea where this conversation was going and therefore locked the door before James continued initiating what was going to be a very interesting round of communicator sex. He also checked his suitcase to find the sexual aid in question among his belongings, along with a bottle of lubricant and several suggestive hardcopy images of James that he hoped the press or his daughter never found.

"Now if you were here, I would be fucking you against the wall after such a spectacularly crappy day," James said, giving Spock a very sexually suggestive look as he licked his lips.

"Why do you assume that you would be the one penetrating me?" Spock asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because my mom died, my brother is an asshole, the admiralty is fucking with my life again, and you need to give me a reason not to hate vibrators," James said smugly as he dropped his boxers and displayed himself completely to Spock.

"I am not sure that is a sufficient enough reason," Spock said, removing his own shirt.

"Hey, I'm letting you hang out with your ex-girlfriend in California without me, away from my totally crazy brother and step fathers. According to Barbara Sawyer, you and Nyota are on a romantic getaway with Amanda. Apparently your sister is a dead ringer for our four-year-old." Although the girls looked somewhat similar, Amanda looked more human. Spock was unsure how such a mistake could have been made, except that this was Barbara Sawyer James was referring to. Nothing she ever said was remotely accurate.

"Barbara Sawyer is a completely non-credible journalist. Actually, referring to her as a journalist is an insult to the profession as a whole. Nothing more sexual than hand holding has occurred between Nyota and myself" Spock told his husband emphatically.

"I trust you completely. Although, if you wanted to have sex with Nyota, I would totally be cool with it as long as I got to watch or you recorded it and it was safe for the babies. Bones, I'm not so sure." Spock just rolled his eyes.

"If I were still in Iowa I would've stuck something in your mouth to keep you from being so course." Because he was aroused by the situation and by what James was doing with his hands, he reverted to using contractions once more.

"As long as it is my nickname for Dana that you're stuffing down my throat I really don't care," James said, smirking as he continued touching himself suggestively.

"Please don't mention him when we are trying to have communicator sex. That is about the only thing that will result in me losing my erection right now," Spock said as he was now completely nude in front of the camera.

"We can't have that now can we?"

* * *

"I can't believe you had communicator sex in my mother's study. I know that sexually repressed Vulcan thing is a façade, but I didn't think you were that kinky," Nyota said on the drive to the rehabilitation facility where her father was being held. His sister was not with them because Alexis felt that it was no place for a small child. Instead she was taking his sister to a nearby aquarium that housed many endangered species of aquatic life.

"Next time use a gag," Nyota spat out in annoyance. Spock was tempted to remind her that he once engaged in sexual intercourse with her in her parents bathroom but he did not want to anger her while driving.

"How could you have heard me?" Spock asked. Their rooms were adjacent but he was sure she was asleep when he left her.

"I think we've had this conversation already this week about you being extremely loud. You woke me up." Considering the expression that she was giving him, Spock was certain that he actually did wake her up.

"I apologize." If Spock were human he probably would have blushed. Actually, if Amanda were in the vehicle, his cheeks would have been green regardless.

"Don't apologize when you're not sorry. Just buy my mom a new set of sheets this afternoon when I'm looking for cute maternity pants that will actually zip up. I'm wearing a skirt right now because none of my pants will fit anymore." That did not happen until the 20th week last time, but he knew not to say anything to upset her. The rest of the drive to the rehabilitation center was spent in silence.

They spent four hours at the rehabilitation center. The first 30 minutes were spent discussing Nyota's father's condition with his primary physician. The subsequent time was spent visiting with Nyota's father. He seemed in better spirits. This time Nyota spoke to him about what was going on in her life. She talked about the pregnancy and moving back to San Francisco temporarily. Although, she did leave out the auspicious circumstances surrounding the pregnancy, as well as Admiral Dana's attempts to make things as uncomfortable as possible for her. Spock was surprised she actually talked about Leonard and the proposal.

"It's not like I don't love him, and I did bring up the marriage thing first. I mean, I'm not really a marriage person. I blame grandma. I don't think I am a relationship person either. I tried it and it blew up in my face. It's just, I don't have that many other options right now." Spock could not believe Nyota was being so self-deprecating.

"The situation with Mr. Scott was not your fault," Spock interjected as her father tried to squeeze her hand.

"I'm not talking to you; I'm talking to my father. You're too close and you want me to marry Leonard for your own reasons," she said, slightly annoyed.

"Two days ago you did suggest that you would only ever get married for tandem assignments," Spock reminded her.

"That's before I found out I actually have to do that," Nyota said angrily, just before she became visibly ill and quickly ran from the room, most likely to regurgitate breakfast. The baby sickness was a constant thing.

During the time Nyota was in the adjacent restroom, Spock spoke with Mr. Uhura at the man's request. Nyota still was not ready for attempting the meld. However, he wanted Spock to pass on certain messages to Nyota. He also requested a favor that Spock was happy to grant.

"What exactly were you talking about with my father after I left the room?" Nyota asked as they were walking around a store called the Sexy Mommy Boutique several hours later, after a lunch meeting with Christopher and Jim's former stepfather, where they discussed the Dana situation in detail. He sincerely hoped that Barbara Sawyer of Gossip World Net did not capture an image of him picking out maternity underwear with his former girlfriend. He would have made a joke about her shopping for her honeymoon with Dr. McCoy, but she was much more prone to physical aggression during gestation.

"How do you know I communicated with your father telepathically while you were regurgitating in the facilities?" Spock asked, handing her a red brassiere that fit Nyota's tastes.

This was not a conversation Spock wanted to have and found it amazing that he had avoided it for several hours already. Spock did not want to tell her that her father essentially gave his wife permission to engage in a less than platonic relationship with Spock's father. During the time Alexis was there, she had told her husband about her long conversations with Sarek, how they bonded over lost love, and their children. His words made Spock think that the man never expected to recover and was letting go of Alexis.

Although he did not give explicit permission for Nyota to marry Doctor McCoy, he did ask Spock to walk her down the aisle for him. Spock knew that he would not be able to say no. He also knew that it was best not to tell Nyota this in public. As he had stated earlier, she was more prone to violence during gestation. He did not want such images in the hands of the Barbara Sawyer's of the world.

"Because it's you and that's the whole reason why you're here, instead of humping Jim – I mean helping Jim with his totally crazy slightly insane family. I may not be ready to go into my father's head, but I know you're going to do it for me because it is you," she said, rolling her eyes as she grabbed a black lace négligée from the rack as well.

Fortunately for Spock, his communicator chirped with a message from James. Unfortunately, it was an image of Leonard picking out engagement rings and Jim soliciting his opinion on what Nyota would like. Nyota saw this message and promptly locked herself in the nearest dressing room.

"I would ask if you were alright, but such a question would be superfluous under the circumstances. However, I would like to perform a scan because I believe your respiratory system is distressed and your blood pressure is likely elevated," Spock said as he walked back into the dressing room, despite several angry glares he received from various patrons. He did not care. The only female that he had ever found sexually stimulating was currently panicking and subsequently putting their children at risk. (Jim has said on multiple occasions that Spock was gay with a Nyota exception.)

Nyota's response was to open the door and let him inside. She also informed the attendant that Spock was married to a guy and it was fine. "If you try to scan me right now I will hurt you."

"Such a scan would not be necessary if your breathing patterns would return to normal. This is not beneficial for the babies," Spock told her in a neutral tone.

"I just realized that the guy I've been dating for about three days is serious about spending the rest of his life with me in a legally binding until-death-do-us-part contract sort of way. I will fucking hyperventilate if I want to," she said, almost screaming. Spock's response was to wrap his arms around her.

"It is okay for you to be fearful," he said in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'm absolutely terrified. I think I stayed in denial about what I felt for Leonard for so long because I knew that it wasn't going to be some short-term thing," she told him as she took in a deep breath.

"The thought of being with somebody for the rest of your life is petrifying, but rewarding. Despite the fact that there are days when I literally want to strangle James, I would not trade this life with him for anything." He was serious when he told her this. Even if he was given the opportunity to have his mother back in exchange for never experiencing his current life with James, Spock would not accept it.

"How did you know that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with Jim?" In all the years that Spock and James had been together, Nyota had never asked that question before. He could have told her it was when they bonded during his final 'adolescent" Pon Farr about 6 years ago, or he could have told her it happened during the first time he kissed James. Perhaps he could say that he finally realized he felt that way about Jim when he realized he was jealous in regards to James interactions with a certain weapons expert, or the first time James almost died on a mission, but that would not be true. (He has completely repressed that time that Jim technically was dead. Spock never wants to think about that again.) The first time he realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jim Kirk was much earlier than that. Actually, Spock realized he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jim before he even realized that he loved the man in any fashion.

"I was sitting there a few hours before Enterprise was to leave on its official maiden voyage and I felt that if I did not get on that ship, I would be missing out on one of the most important relationships that I would ever have," he explained.

"I assume that at the time you just thought it was that life changing friendship that you were going after?" she asked with a smirk. He knew that she knew about that particular conversation with his counterpart.

"I think on some level I knew it was more than that. Even at that early stage, I could not picture my life without you or James." Nyota smiled at him when he included her in that statement. "However, I was well aware of the fact that even if I went to the colony, you would still be a part of my life. But with James I did not have that certainty yet. Our relationship was tentative at best. We did not even have a solid friendship yet and I could not take that risk of losing him."

"So you essentially pissed off your father to pursue a relationship with a guy that you knew would be a very important part of your life despite having no clue what type of relationship you would have with him?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It seems somewhat absurd when you put it in such terms," Spock told her.

"No, it makes perfect sense, but only to those that have been in love like that. I think I realized that I love Leonard like that this morning when I couldn't deal with speaking with my father telepathically without Leonard in the room. That's why we haven't done it yet." He understood. Spock got strength from James to do a lot of things that he would be unable to do under other circumstances.

"I know he can't be in there with us. But I need him to be in the room with me. I need Leonard to tell me that everything will be okay even though it's a fucking mess. I just…" She was sobbing hard at that point and he just held her tighter.

"I hate being this weak. I'm not a weak person. I've never been so dependent on someone else before," she said, wiping her tears away.

"My mother always said that love never makes you weak. She also said that needing the emotional support of other people is not a weakness," Spock told her.

"Your mom was a smart woman," Nyota said, smiling at him sadly.

"I told you yesterday that Leonard was your James. Many would say I am a cold emotionless computer, but on numerous occasions I have needed James' emotional support, just as I have been there for him during these turbulent few weeks. It is a necessity that I have become accustomed to and I am uncertain if I would want to do without it."

"I guess that's another reason why you guys are still together, even though he does stupid things on a regular basis." Nyota almost laughed as she spoke. It was a sign that she was becoming more composed.

"Essentially, I want to spend the rest of my life with James."

"But it's not going to be like that. Fuck, we've already had one too many close calls with Jim. I've been in the mind of Other You and you have no idea how much he misses his Jim, despite how much the other Jim screwed up, and he screwed up a lot. I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of: losing Leonard to death or to someone else. Seeing my dad like he is, just made me realize that life in general is so fragile. I'm afraid of what will happen after everything falls apart. I don't know how your other self does it. How can you go on without the other half of your soul?" Spock wondered the same thing, especially after his small taste of such a distasteful possibility. It was why he did not condemn his father for his marriage of convenience, even if his sister was highly distressed because of it.

"If my other self was so hurt by the loss of his Jim, then why did he encourage me to go after Jim, even if it was highly probable that the situation would turn out the same way? Would it not be most logical for him to prevent me from feeling such a profound loss?" Spock asked her.

"When has love ever been about logic?" she asked hypothetically with a laugh. "It is better for you to have Jim and eventually lose him to death and/or stupidity than to never have had Jim at all. You would be miserable without him. You were miserable without him. There are no absolutes and nothing is certain, unless you don't try in the first place."

"Your hypothesis is accurate," he told her in an even tone.

"Tell Jim to convince Leonard to get the second ring," she said as her tone became lighter.

"I assume that you are accepting his proposal?" Spock asked.

"Yes. Also, if I'm going to have to wear that ring the rest of my life, I should get something I actually like," she said, walking to the door of the dressing room.

"That seems reasonable."

"Do you think it would be tacky for me to go wedding dress shopping before he actually proposes with the ring?" she asked.

"Considering that the ceremony will have to take place in four days, I would say that would be most prudent."

* * *

Jim was having one of those mornings. Mostly because he was trying to keep his grumpy Doctor friend from seeing any of the highly inaccurate gossip about his girlfriend and Spock. Now Leonard would not believe any of the sex rumors, because he trusted Nyota implicitly not to violate Dr. Akia's no sex order. He did not want Leonard to see the pictures of Nyota trying on wedding dresses. Apparently, Spock was much more successful than Jim had hoped. Besides it was bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the wedding, and to pull a fast one on Chicken Dick they were going to need a lot of luck.

Even though he only had to wrangle three kids without Spock and Nyota, it took twice as long and he had to ask Akia for help. He hugged her and her namesake goodbye before leaving. He knew he would see them soon, but he still hated goodbyes.

Before he knew it they were in San Francisco and Bones was practically being jumped by Nyota as soon as they were out of the security area. (He despised flying commercial.)

"Yes," was the only word Nyota said in between the type of kisses that can get you arrested on certain Federation planets.

"I haven't asked the question yet. Also, I should probably give you this," he said, pulling out the ring that Spock suggested they get.

"Never go ring shopping with Jim. I already knew," Nyota said as she held out her hand for him to slip the ring on it.

"Barbara Sawyer?" he asked after a moment. "That would explain why Jim was trying to keep me from reading the news this morning."

"Actually, Jim text messaged Spock asking him for help picking out the ring," she explained.

"At least I know you got the one you wanted," he said as he kissed her cheek.

"You could've got me something from a gumball machine and I would've been happy. Being away from you these last few days made me realize that I just want you. I'm never going to meet somebody else who accepts me exactly for who I am," Nyota told him as she actually started tearing up. It had to be the baby hormones.

"Well, my first marriage taught me that you're marrying the person that they actually are and not the person you wish they could be. I accept you as you are with adorable kids and a once every seven year commitment on New Vulcan. I want to be with you despite the extra baggage," he said in between kisses.

"You are going to let that continue?" Nyota asked, pulling away in shock.

"It's a medical necessity and it comes out of friendship because your heart is just that big. Hell, I would be okay with it if you did something with our hobgoblin as long as I get to monitor the situation. Although, I'm sure Jim would want to watch for less altruistic reasons," he said with a serious expression that was slightly frightening.

"I just agreed to marry you. Don't ruin it by joking about something like that," Nyota said as she kissed him once more.

"I am uncertain that was a joke," Spock whispered as he pulled James in for an equally intense kiss. Amanda may have been cheering, but he was too distracted by the feel of Spock's very skilled tongue to really be paying attention to anything but his husband.


	32. I think I'd rather deal with Klingons

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Spoiler alert: There are a few things I got from the new film that I have incorporated in this chapter. However**, **it should be safe to read because some things are drastically different in this universe. On the other hand, the more things change the more they stay the same. (Poor Christine)

* * *

Chapter 32: I think I'd rather deal with Klingons

Okay, why exactly did he want Nyota to marry the universe's most grumpy Doctor again? Especially given the fact that she was becoming bridezilla once more (it wasn't even her wedding last time, yet she still went nuts). Between dealing with his mother's death and the situation bringing back memories of that thing they don't talk about, his fear of leaving his kids to deal with the next reincarnation of that asshole Frank has magnified a hundredfold. Bones will be a good stepfather to the kids. He loves Amanda and the future babies as much as Jim does and it was not just a show to get into Nyota's pants (which still has not happened yet).

Also, Jim may have made Bones promise that if he died (permanently) he would let Nyota be Spock's every-seven-years-partner. Actually, he made Bones promise to keep Spock alive by whatever means necessary because they both know that Spock has a tendency to do really dumb things when Jim's life was in peril.

As Jim was forced to deal with Bones at the suits store, he was starting to wonder if it was all worth it. Jim despised any activity that requires him to wear a dress uniform or suit, although that may be because he associates both with funerals (or getting his ass handed to him). Because his two best friends are getting married, he has no choice but to be in the bridal party (especially, because Nyota didn't trust him to not mess up the ceremony and therefore decided to have Chris officiate). As Bones' best man, he had no choice but to wear a suit. More importantly, that means getting the bad-tempered Doctor in a suit because their dress uniforms didn't quite make it through the funeral unscathed. He'd rather deal with Klingons or his father-in-law.

For a woman who never believed that she would actually get married, his best friend was becoming bridezilla (not that he would ever tell her that because he values his balls). It was going to be a small wedding with only about 40 or 50 people (mostly anybody that they've served with in the last nine years that was anywhere near San Francisco) and it was only going to be that many people because they needed it to look like a real wedding to satisfy a certain Admiral that they all wished had died during the thing they don't talk about.

For some reason only known to Nyota's psyche, she had saved several files from when she helped him and Spock plan their nuptials, filled with everything you need to plan the perfect wedding. Okay, that wasn't really that strange because Nyota was super organized, but she had things like wedding dresses picked out. Jim thinks that subconsciously she may have been planning her own wedding, but Jim didn't say anything because he didn't feel like getting hit due to a pregnancy mood swing.

Because of the short amount of time, she was letting Jim help with this crazy wedding, even though she didn't want him to. (You make one little bad judgment call involving spellcheck and they never let you forget it.). He was in charge of finding a band and catering. That was easy enough, considering that Akia's great aunt owned a catering company in San Francisco and pretty much adored him for all the business that she got after she catered the fairytale wedding of the 23rd century.

Nyota won't let him anywhere near the invitations, even though they were just doing the email style due to the fact that the wedding was happening tomorrow. She was never going to let go of the Shrek thing. Although, it probably would've been better if Jim did the invitations rather than Spock. His husband kind of sort of freaked out Vulcan style when he found out that a certain weapons expert was on the invitation list. No one does jealousy better than a Vulcan. He would play with his husband about it again, but he doesn't want to sleep on the couch of their hotel suite for the rest of this vacation from hell. He blamed Other Spock for being a blabbermouth and putting ideas in his Spock's pretty little Vulcan head, despite his promises to keep his big mouth shut for the sake of preserving the timeline. It just got worse after Sam wrecked his first marriage to hook up with his prime dimension soulmate. (Maybe now that Sam has subsequently wrecked that marriage because he is so much more of an asshole, due to his experiences in this dimension, that Spock will get it through his head that they are completely different people. The only thing he shares with his other dimension counterpart is DNA.)

Right now, his major Best Person duty was getting Bones to pick a decent suit. Again, he'd rather deal with Klingons. For himself, it wasn't that hard because Spock already chose three options and Jim just had to pick the one that Spock will rip off of him the fastest. However, Bones was being an asshole.

"I don't know why I have to dress up in this damn monkey suit," Bones said, looking absolutely ridiculous, as he unsuccessfully tried to tie his tie the old-fashioned way. The retro blue thing was definitely out.

"Because your really pregnant fiancé wants decent wedding pictures." Jim would like to say, 'I don't know either,' but Nyota can still kick his ass despite the baby bump.

"I don't know why we're doing this big production. I love her, she loves me. We are only getting the damn piece of paper for the tandem assignments. We should just go to a judge and be done with it," Bones groused, already ripping his tie off before going back into the dressing room.

"First of all, you're getting married because you love my only daughter with all your heart. The only reason why you're doing it now is because someone hasn't had the decency to off Admiral Chicken yet. To this day, I don't know why the di-unpleasant little man had to be on Risa making my life miserable when a lot of the other Starfleet morons got killed off," Alexis said from the sidelines with a happy Amanda, who was quietly coloring in her Barbie PADD. That was the reason why she quickly stopped her profanity mid word.

Alexis was there to make sure they were dressed in something Nyota would actually approve of and Amanda was her special helper. Nyota was busy doing other wedding things such as convincing Christine to be her Maid of Honor. Spock wasn't there because he had already picked out his 'most likely going to get ripped off of him after the ceremony, sexy as hell' suit when he went wedding dress shopping with Nyota. (Thanks to that little incident, he's getting crazy propositions from women (and a few men) throughout the galaxy who now think his marriage was falling apart.) Instead of the possibility of dressing room fun time, Spock was enjoying quality brother sister Museum hopping time. Because if Spock were here, he could at least get a hand job out of this and that would at least make this whole trip tolerable.

"Because there's an entity in the universe that likes fucking with us," Jim mumbled under his breath as he pushed his Spock dressing room fantasies out of his mind. Fortunately, his four-year-old did not hear his profanity.

"Pretty much. Admiral Chicken is so mad at everyone right now, the only way you're going to be able to stay with Nyota is a compassion assignment as her husband due to her high risk pregnancy and the fact that your father-in-law is gravely ill. She needs you, so you're going to do whatever it takes to be here," Alexis said, handing him a suit that Amanda thought was pretty.

"I know I need to be here. I want to be here. I hate seeing her like that. She cried for a God da— for a good hour after we got back from her third-party meld with her father." After the beautiful wedding proposal that didn't happen because of Jim's text message to Spock, they went straight to the rehab center where Nyota was finally brave enough to enter her father's mind with Bones there to hold her hand, metaphorically. Afterward, she locked herself in the guest bedroom with Bones and Amanda. Jim could hear the tears from down the hall. She won't talk about what happened and Jim was not going to push.

She hasn't pushed him to talk about his mommy induced mortality issues or the whole mess with his brother, so Jim will pay her the same courtesy. Nyota will tell him when she's ready. Probably about the same time Jim will be willing to openly talk about Sam or the thing they don't talk about. For the rest of the day Nyota pretended that her mini breakdowns didn't happen as she focused on putting together the best quickie wedding ever. That's what she's been doing ever since.

"It will still be a real marriage, even if I show up in jeans and a T-shirt. I love her and that's what matters. A suit should not make that much of a difference," Bones said, slamming the dressing room door behind him. "Jeans and a T-shirt are perfectly normal wedding attire in Georgia. It's what I wore last time." The thing was, Jim has seen the wedding pictures and Bones wasn't joking. Although, that wedding actually did happen at a courthouse and there was an actual shotgun involved.

"Yeah and look how well that marriage turned out," Alexis mumbled low enough that only Jim heard her.

"Okay, you don't care what that Admiral that we all despise thinks, but you care about Nyota. As Jim said earlier, Nyota wants good wedding pictures and therefore you will wear the fu—the monkey suit," Alexis told her future son-in-law with so much anger that she barely caught her profanity. Really, Amanda made a small fortune off of this vacation.

"Again, she's a woman who never ever planned on getting married. I don't think it matters that much," Bones said in his defense. Jim's response was to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Bones called from the dressing room.

"A woman who's never planning to get married does not keep a backlog of digital issues of Wedding Bell for the last six years," Jim deadpanned.

"You're exaggerating. That's all stuff from when she was planning your big shindig. Why are you even forcing me to do this? You didn't want a big wedding. I had to hear you complain about the whole process for a good six months," Bones groused from behind the door. He may have also cursed at his suit; fortunately Amanda was too far away to learn a few new curse words.

"And I had to listen to you complain about your ex-wife for a good 12 years. We're even. Like a lot of things in my life, I didn't exactly have much of a choice because my father-in-law has issues." He would make a joke about Alexis getting to know that firsthand when she hooks up with his very Vulcan father-in-law, but he didn't want to get punched. Nyota's propensity for violence comes from Alexis. "I don't think she's saved an article about the best way to wear your hair under your wedding veil for me," Jim joked. "Nyota was planning her wedding, not mine."

"How long have you known my daughter? She wants love and happiness and kids, she just was afraid that she would never have it. She said she didn't want to ever get married because she didn't think it was possible." Jim just nodded his head in agreement with Alexis.

"I know about the relationship stuff at least. I blame the asshole for that," Bones said quietly.

"It applies to this wedding stuff too. According to my husband, when Ny was little she used to run around the house in her mom's wedding dress carrying a bouquet of flowers. Wedding was her favorite game when she was little." Jim was kind of surprised to hear this, considering anything wedding related was completely banned from Amanda's dress-up repertoire. Actually, Wedding Day Barbie was also banned from the collection. That's how Amanda ended up with the Dolls of the Universe collection in the first place. "I think I have a picture of it somewhere on my PADD," Alexis said, grabbing the device to scan her pictures.

"Nyota told me she stopped doing that after her parents' marriage fell apart and her biological mom died." The fact that Bones knew this proved in Jim's mind that he was the perfect partner for her.

"I think it's more like she stopped believing in love, but you make her believe again," Alexis said with a sad smile as she suddenly stopped scanning pictures and passed the PADD over to Jim. He was expecting to see an adorable picture of Nyota playing dress-up but that wasn't what he saw.

"Fine, I will wear the monkey suit," Bones said, stepping outside. Amanda was clapping because she thought her future step-daddy looked great. Jim wasn't paying attention because he was still in shock at the picture on Alexis' PADD.

"Why do you have a picture of my mom from right after the divorce from Frank?" Jim knew the image was from that time because every time his mom got a divorce she got a new hairstyle. The jet black pixie cut was her post Frank reaction.

"You know that Starfleet is a small world after all, especially if you have been in as long as I have. I could've retired five years ago. Eventually, you'll work with everyone or at least it will seem that way. We ended up on the same ship for about three months when I had to deal with some legal issues that I am not at liberty to discuss. We were both moms away from their children and we commiserated together. I didn't realize she was your mother until the funeral because she was still using her first ex-husband's last name at the time," Alexis explained before grabbing the PADD from him and forwarding a copy of the image to his personal account.

"I know, it took her forever to get it changed back after the divorce. That's why she kept the last name Kirk from that point on. Also, she was sporting her I hate Frank hairstyle. I could understand why you didn't recognize her," Jim said sadly. She looked so happy in this picture.

"Thing should have clicked though, when you told me about your time at Ohio University. I was the one who suggested that she let you go to college with Sam under the watchful eye of your grandfather's former lover." Jim's reaction was to hug her. He always wondered how Winona came up with that option. Alexis was brilliant sometimes.

"If it wasn't for your suggestion, I probably would've ended up spending my teenage years living with grandma Kirk. Even though my time on that planet that we do not speak of was horrible, quality time with grandma Kirk would have been worse."

Tarsus was bad, but he survived it with just occasional nightmares that mostly went away after that mission that they do not speak of. Grandma Kirk would have made him hate himself. He doubted he would be as comfortable with himself as he is now. Actually, it was more than just that. Without going to Ohio University, Sam would've never met Akia. Okay, even though his brother completely fucked that relationship up, Jim would be completely miserable without his big sister. She was the one who smacked him upside the head every time he tried to do something stupid. He shuddered at the thought of who he would be without her.

"I had the misfortune of spending time with your grandmother. You probably would've turned out to be the world's biggest closet case if you spent your formative years with that homophobic and xenophobic nut job. The woman is a hateful - word I'm not allowed to say in front of your almost four-year-old," Alexis said, censoring herself.

"That's the reason why I'm hugging you," Jim said as he pulled away."

"Maybe you should not. I am the one who introduced her to the man you affectionately referred to as Admiral Stepdad. Trust me, if I had known things would have turned out the way they did, I would've never…" she started, but Jim cut her off.

"It's okay. It was for the best. If it wasn't for those things, I don't think I would have the life I have now. Akia was a really good influence on me. Also, thanks to Admiral Stepdad, I decided that I never want to be something other than myself. In the other dimension, I really was a complete…" Jim started as his communicator chirped.

He cursed when he saw a message from Nyota telling him that they had a meeting with the assholes-thatbe in an hour. Apparently, Chicken Dick found out about the wedding and was planning something else to get Jim out of Starfleet. It was so much easier when the admiral that hated him just tries to get him and his entire crew killed. Instead, this idiot had to play fucking mind games.

"I have to leave. Dana's up to something and Admiral Stepdad wants to have a meeting," Jim said in annoyance.

"Dana is always up to something. I told you we should have just gotten married two days ago," Bones groused. Jim's response was to scowl as he went back to change into his street clothes.

Amanda refused to stay with her grandmother and future step-daddy, that meant he had to bring Amanda with him into the lion's den. Most of the lions actually liked her. His kid was much more popular among Starfleet leadership than he was.

"Did you have to bring our daughter with you?" Nyota asked, slightly annoyed as she saw Amanda playing with all the pieces of bric-a-brac on the desk of Admiral Step dad's assistant. Okay, she was beyond annoyed and more like extremely pissed off. Again, it was the baby hormones. Maybe, Jim should just be happy she said 'our' daughter.

"You know how hard it is to get her to do something she doesn't want to do," Jim said as an excuse. "The admiralty is usually nicer to us when she's around. Except for Dana, who has a heart that's three sizes too small. Actually, his nickname is also three sizes too small," Jim said cheerily. "Besides, you were happy when she hugged you earlier." Nyota just scowled at him.

"Okay, why are you mad?" he asked.

"Because I have less than 24 hours before my wedding and everything is falling apart. Instead of dealing with it, I'm waiting here for some idiot to tell me that this ridiculous plan will not work," Nyota said, actually panicking. That scared him because she doesn't panic. She can face down vicious Klingons no problem, but her wedding scared the hell out of her.

"What happened? It wasn't the catering?" he asked in concern.

"No, she has been wonderful. It's going just as well as last time. She remembered all the things that I like that I knew you guys wouldn't let me put on the menu." Jim smiled to himself; he was right, she was planning her own wedding last time even if she refused to admit so.

"The venue?"

"It's fine. It helps when your ex-boyfriend/best friend is the son of an ambassador and can get use of the Embassy for a couple of hours. Barring catastrophe, we should be fine," Nyota responded. They were planning a garden wedding at the Embassy. Fortunately, for early March the weather was quite mild.

"The dress?" Jim prompted.

"Miraculously, it still fits. It's made with the type of fabric that adjusts with my enormously growing belly." He rolled his eyes at her response. She's so tiny that even a little bit of baby weight is noticeable to her.

"So what's wrong?" he asked, finally getting tired of guessing.

"Christine," was Nyota's one-word answer.

"What, she hated all your bridesmaid dress options?" Jim asked jokingly.

"That doesn't matter considering she doesn't want to be in the wedding party. Actually, she's not even coming to the wedding. She's in love with my fiancée and doesn't want to deal with seeing us together. After her current assignment is over she's going back to New Vulcan," Nyota told him as a tear ran down her cheek. He wasn't expecting Nyota to say that.

"Shit," Jim mumbled under breath, hoping Amanda would not hear him. He was well aware that Christine Chapel can hold a grudge. According to a certain weapons expert that his husband has issues with, he may have done something stupid to her at the Academy (not that he remembers, because he did a lot of 'brownies' during that time). Let's just say it took a lot of groveling to get the Vulcan specialist on Enterprise to take care of his baby daughter. He would do anything for his baby girl, even apologize for something he doesn't actually remember doing. However, he didn't think Christine would do that to Nyota. They had been inseparable since they were first introduced to each other by a mutual friend (that his husband really doesn't like).

"She's like my best female friend and she hates me," Nyota said as her tears became steadier.

"I doubt she hates you," Jim said wrapping an arm around her.

"She called me a female version of you, and I don't think that was a compliment, considering she still thinks you're a man slut," Nyota told him bitterly.

"She'll forgive you eventually. She eventually forgave me for my early asshole behavior at the Academy," Jim said, trying to cheer her up.

"No, she did not. Did you not hear what I said earlier? Why do you think she keeps trying to sleep with your husband?" Nyota said flippantly. Jim could see her doing that to get back at him for something he doesn't actually remember doing, although he is sure it was along the lines of not calling the next day.

"Good point," Jim said, conceding that the doctor really did not like him. Although, trying to steal his husband wasn't even the worst thing a possible former hook up has done to him. The whole disaster which they will not speak of began because an ex-boyfriend may have filed an accurate report when Jim did something stupid to save Spock's life during his 'in complete denial about being in love with Spock' phase. Jim successfully managed to convince Spock not to file the report only to get thrown under the metaphorical bus by a guy who was mad that Jim only wanted a one-time thing.

"So now I have no maid of honor and I will not have a chief medical officer when I take over, because unlike your super husband, Leonard can't do both," Nyota said, crying harder.

"Is she okay?" asked a voice that Jim remembers very well, considering she served on a ship for nearly 5 years and kept him from dying a few times, even if his husband was jealous of her for reasons that Jim doesn't quite get. I mean Spock can watch him make out with Nyota and he gets turned on by it. But he freaks out every time Jim talks to the now Commander Marcus. Spock has issues, but he loves the guy anyway.

"It's the baby hormones and wedding stress. The same thing happened at the last wedding," Jim said nonchalantly. What Jim wanted to say was 'your friend Christine is a coldhearted bitch who is making my Nyota cry' but instead he decided to go with the lie above. It was sort of true. Nyota had a wonderful crying jag when her original bridesmaid dress did not fit because she didn't think to order a maternity dress.

"I remember. I was there. I helped her pick out the maternity bridesmaid dress," Carol said with a small smile.

Carol's presence at the wedding was the reason why Other Spock downed an entire case of wedding chocolate because Spock has Carol issues in any dimension. (The funny thing was, his Spock specifically invited her to the wedding, probably as a very passive aggressive Vulcan way of marking his territory.) Said wedding chocolate was the reason why Other Spock let it slip to Akia that Sam was screwing around with the woman that he married in the other dimension, which resulted in Jim's wedding turning into as big of a circus as his mother's funeral. Good times.

"Considering that people got arrested at that wedding, I have a right to be worried. My wedding is going to be as big of a disaster because I don't even have a maid of honor and my best female friend is ditching me because I'm marrying her crush," Nyota practically screamed.

"You know that you can have Spock be your Best Person? You were his Best Person at his wedding," Carol suggested, trying to be helpful. That just made Nyota cry harder. He really really hated baby hormones because normally Nyota is absolutely awesome and keeps it together even when things are literally blowing up around her.

"Spock is walking her down the aisle because her dad…" Jim stopped his explanation mid-sentence because he wasn't sure if it was his place to tell their old colleagues such a thing. Jim knew that the two used to hang out together during the five-year mission but he wasn't sure how close they were now.

"You can tell her. My dad had a stroke and he is pretty much a prisoner in his own body. My assignment on Enterprise has been cancelled so I can spend the next 9 to 10 months watching my father slowly die," Nyota said as her tears stopped, as if she was willing herself not to cry in public.

"I won't say I'm sorry because I'm pretty sure you have heard that too much in the last few days," Carol said, sitting down on the other side of Nyota and hugging her.

"It's okay. I'm just trying to focus on the wedding right now. The problem is I am horrible at having female friends." Carol just laughed.

"Hey, you're friends with my sister-in-law. Akia could be in your wedding. She is going to be here anyway," Jim suggested.

"After the disaster that was your wedding, she refuses to be in a bridal party ever again. Actually, I'm surprised she's coming." She turned to Carol. "Let's put it this way, you, who I haven't emailed in at least two months, are my next closest female friend. Sorry about that by the way," Nyota said sheepishly.

"I understand you have had a busy couple of weeks. I did get a wedding invitation, even if I did have to find out about your pregnancy from the Interplanetary Enquirer," the scientist said, looking quite upset.

"Don't feel bad, so did my mom," Nyota said with a laugh. "How do you feel about being in a wedding with one day's notice?" Nyota asked, and Jim wasn't sure if she was joking or not. Neither was Carol, who did not answer. Fortunately, Nyota was distracted by Amanda trying to climb onto the desk.

"So why are you here waiting in Admiral Stepdad's office?" Jim asked Carol while Nyota was dealing with Amanda. Jim wanted to know why she was there. He knew she was on planet working on some special project, but that was about it. Her response was to give him a strange look.

"That's one of the nicer things that I've called him over the years. I can't say the rest in front of Amanda." Carol just smiled at him softly at that. "He used to be married to my mom before he finally admitted that he was head over heels in love with his best friend. Let's just say that was the final thing that made me realize that the teachings of grandma Kirk were absolute bull-'word I can't say in front of my daughter'," Jim ended when Nyota sat back down beside him with Amanda held firmly in her lap.

"I wasn't going to ask. I just received an email telling me to be here," she said quietly.

"Hey baby, this is Commander Marcus," Jim said as he pulled Amanda into his lap. "She used to work with us and was really good friends with your mommy before you were born." Carol just sort of stared in shock when he referred to Nyota as Amanda's mother.

"Uncle Bones said that you are the woman that Daddy Spock is afraid of because the first time around you…" Jim quickly put a hand over Amanda's mouth in case she accidentally said something that was way too classified for the Doctor to hear. Seriously, he's going to have to have a talk with everybody about saying things in front of Amanda that they should not, especially things that are classified.

"Kids just say the cutest thing sometimes," Jim just said with a smile as Amanda tried to pull his hand away.

"But I wasn't going to say anything bad, Daddy," Amanda said with fluttering eyelashes once she was free. "Uncle Bones says that Daddy was jealous because he has always liked blondes better." Jim had the urge to hide under the closest piece of furniture at that comment.

"That's what Admiral Dana was hoping for," Admiral Stepdad said, walking into the room and being as vague as possible until little Vulcan ears were safely out of the room. After Admiral Stepdad's husband took Amanda for an ice cream, the three adults were left to talk and Jim wanted to laugh out loud when he found out Admiral Dana's latest plan to fuck with his life. Between his crappy reputation and Spock's tendency to be jealous, Dana assumed that Jim would do something stupid enough to lead to divorce if he gave Nyota's position as his number two to the commander. He got the idea from a certain conversation that he intercepted between Spock and his other self because his husband did not think to encrypt that particular personal call. Compared to Carol's late father, Dana was such an amateur. Admiral Stepdad knew about the entire plan because the idiot had spilled everything when he got a little too drunk the day before.

Jim just thought the whole thing was funny. If he didn't sleep with Carol before he got married to Spock, why would he do it now? Just because his other self did something, doesn't mean he will.

Carol was pissed because she felt like Dana was treating her like a piece of ass. She was so angry she was shaking. She may have also been shaking because she was let in on the biggest secret in the Federation, the existence of another Spock. (He was just glad no one told her about David). Nyota was shaking and cursing up a storm in Klingon when Admiral Stepdad repeated what Dana said about her. The asshole firmly believed that the only reason why she advanced so much was because she was screwing both him and Spock. His Klingon may be a little rusty, but Jim was pretty sure Nyota wanted to cut the idiot's dick off with a rusty spoon.

Things got worse when Dana arrived at the table. The smug bastard was beyond cocky when he congratulated Nyota on her upcoming nuptials and then subsequently told her that Leonard could never be her first officer because it was against Starfleet regulations for the captain to appoint his or her spouse to that position. (However, you can marry your first officer after the fact. For some reason, that's perfectly legal. Starfleet regulations are so asinine it's not even funny.) What made it worse was, due to special circumstances, Dana was using an obscure regulation that pretty much gave him carte blanche to choose Nyota's first officer, who was going to be Carol. Actually, the justification he gave for Carol being assigned as his and Spock's babysitter for the next couple of months was for the assignment to prepare her to take over the responsibility of first officer. Jim knew that excuse was absolute bullshit.

Also during last night really drunk conversation, Dana told Admiral Stepdad that he thought this was the perfect punishment for Nyota because Dana believed some silly rumor about the two women hating each other during their time on Enterprise. Admiral Stepdad and Pike may have exploited this assumption for their own nefarious purposes by mentioning that Bones 'dated' Carol briefly before they decided it wasn't going to work. (The two became sort of friends after Admiral Stepdad saved his life during that thing they don't speak about way back when he was still Captain Stepdad. Thanks to the guy's quick thinking, Pike only ended up in a coma for a few months.)

According to the Interplanetary Enquirer and/or Barbara Sawyer, this one time Carol and Nyota had a fight on the bridge about either him, Spock, or possibly Bones. Jim can't remember exactly what trash was published. It took Jim a lot of effort to keep from smirking. Although he couldn't help it when Nyota and Carol decided to screw with the man's head.

"Dr. Marcus is an excellent choice, Sir. She was my second choice after Dr. McCoy," Nyota said, smiling in a way that was kind of scary. The thing is, Carol probably was her second choice, but he knew that she absolutely wanted Bones in that position. Actually, he wanted Bones in that position because Jim did not trust anyone else with his baby. If he was going to have to give Enterprise up, he wanted to put her in the hands of somebody that would respect her completely. He didn't want Dana to decide who that was going to be. Seriously, why hadn't this guy been killed off already? Why did he have to be on Risa when half of Starfleet command was taken out?

Carol smiled in turn. "Nyota was very nice to me when I first came on board Enterprise." That was true. Nyota was one of the few people who didn't hold what Carol's father did against her. A lot of people were not so nice. "She's a really good friend. Actually, she asked me to be in her wedding," Carol said, putting her arm around Nyota.

"Actually, I asked her to be my Maid of Honor." Admiral Chicken Dick actually choked on his coffee when Nyota said this. At that moment, Jim thought two things: first, Starfleet was going to be in trouble with these two badass women in charge of Starfleet's flagship. The second thing was, Spock was going to be one very angry Vulcan when he found out that Jim was going to have to be Carol's escort at the wedding. He was going to be sleeping on the couch tonight.

Xxxx

It's days like today when Nyota really wished she could have something harder than a milkshake. Even a caffeine laced Frappuccino would be better. She was already still shaking from her encounter with her father two days before, but her heart broke when Christine flat out told her that not only was she not going to be her Maid of Honor, but she wasn't even going to come to the wedding. She didn't even want to serve on Nyota's ship with the happily married command team. (Nyota was really happy that she did not contact Christine about her Leonard-related issues earlier this week.)

She knew that Christine had been acting weird around her ever since it came out that she was pregnant. The last three weeks before shore leave, Christine was distant. Normally they talked to each other a lot, but in those few weeks she rarely saw Christine unless she was in sickbay for a checkup. Of course, she was too busy dealing with the fact that she was accidentally pregnant to realize that Christine was pulling away from her. Maybe that's why her harsh words caught Nyota off guard. When she referred to Nyota as a 'female Jim Kirk', she knew her supposed friend was calling her a slut.

Nyota wondered if Christine would stay on the ship when she found out that Leonard was never going to be her first officer as long as she married him before she could appoint him to that position. It's not that she hated Carol, because contrary to tabloid reports, she did like the woman (seriously, with all the things going on in the Federation, one would think that they would have something better to do than make up stories about the Enterprise's bridge crew. Seriously, why is Jim Kirk so newsworthy?) She was a competent officer, who has saved their collective asses on more than one occasion. She knew that she could be a good Captain with Carol by her side.

Carol couldn't have performed better during their little mind game with Dana if they had planned it beforehand. When they were on the same ship, they did hang out a lot. Although after they ended up on different ships, they had kind of drifted apart and Christine took over that place to the point where Nyota didn't even think about calling Carol when she was freaking out about being in love with Leonard. Ironically enough, Carol was the person who had introduced Christine to her.

If she had to work with anybody but Leonard, Carol would be a good alternative. It was just that she wanted to serve with Leonard. Unfortunately, Admiral Chicken Dick realized this too. Nyota knew that's why he was doing this before he confronted her after that horribly uncomfortable meeting.

"You're still going to go through with this sham of a marriage, even though it will completely derail the career of the man that you supposedly love. Not that I believe you, considering you're pregnant with someone else's kid," Dana said icily.

"This Is Not A Sham!" she shot back with venom. "I've been in love with this man for longer than even I care to admit. The only reason why this is happening now is because your actions made me realize that I don't want to live without him. I guess I should get you a fruit basket," Nyota said as she forced herself to smile at the smug ass.

"So you do not care about his career?" Admiral Dana asked with his normal arrogance.

"Spock being Jim's first officer for the last few years didn't keep him from becoming an Admiral. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to throw up now," Nyota said, leaving as quickly as possible because she really did have to throw up and she just did not feel like dealing with the man any longer (basically she wanted to get out of there before the idiot brought up one of the two or three dozen times that Jim and/or Spock broke a Federation rule or five to save the life of the other.)

She tried to push the man's words out of her mind as she chose a bridesmaid dress for Carol. She tried to talk about anything but the situation that the idiots-that-be were putting them into. Mostly they talked about the stupid things Jim did during the five year mission and Carol's surprise at Jim actually being a decent father. (It was better than mentioning anything involving dead or dying parents.) Due to her own experiences with being raised in Starfleet, Carol was really hesitant about Nyota having anything to do with bringing another Starfleet brat into the world. She was uneasy about a kid being raised on a starship and had expressed that opinion to Nyota a lot. (That was part of the reason why she did not contact Carol as much as she used to. Okay, that may have been why she didn't tell her about the 'aliens got me pregnant' incident. Although, once Amanda had Carol wrapped around her adorable little fingers, such comments stopped immediately.

Two hours later, Nyota arrived back at her mother's house with a sleeping Amanda in her arms.

"How did the meeting go? You were gone for a really long time," Leonard asked as he took the heavy child from her.

"The meeting only lasted an hour. The rest of the time was spent picking out a bridesmaid dress for my future first officer that Dana hand-picked for me," Nyota said sardonically.

"I doubt that Christine would ever want to be first officer," Leonard joked. Nyota just closed her eyes as she felt a stab of pain in her heart at the mention of her supposed friend.

"Not Christine, Carol Marcus," Nyota told him with a sigh.

"I didn't think you guys were still close friends because she expressed her unhappiness about you being Jim's baby's Mama one too many times. I was a little surprised you invited her to the wedding. Technically, I did date her for a little while," Leonard told her as he placed a sleeping Amanda on one of the couches before they moved into the kitchen so they could talk more freely.

"Only by the Jim Kirk definition of 'dating'," she said with a snicker. "If I can have a sort of former significant other in the wedding party, so can you. We occasionally email each other and she did apologize today for some of the things that she said. You know how hard it is to keep friends when they're on a different ship. The only person that you still email on a regular basis is Sulu."

"And if he was anywhere near here I would let him be my best man, so you could have Jim if you did not want Christine to be your Best Person/Maid of Honor. Even I'm aware that the situation would be slightly awkward for Christine," Leonard said, putting an arm around her.

"Oh, I wanted Christine to be my Best Person, but she did not. Actually, she doesn't want to be on Enterprise anymore. Did you know that she is completely in love with you and pretty much hates me right now for taking you away from her?" Nyota asked before telling him the details of everything from this morning's very painful call to what happened with Dana and Jim's former stepdad. Let's just say the only good thing that came out of that meeting was she found out for sure that Leonard would be able to stay with her after the wedding. He would be given an earthbound assignment training cadets at the Academy until after the babies were born. She was expecting Leonard to be angry when she told him about the fact that he couldn't be her first officer per Starfleet regulations; however, his reaction kind of surprised her.

"I trust her to watch your back and I know that Spock will train her well. Also, Carol being on Enterprise for the next few months may not be such a bad thing. Lord knows somebody needs to keep those two knuckleheads in line while I am taking care of you." That was true. Jim and Spock kind of had a tendency to do stupid things for the sake of the other. It was what clued her in to the fact that she and Spock did not love each other in a 'death do us part' sort of way.

"Good point. Although, you know Spock will not be happy," Nyota said with a sigh.

"I'm happy when Spock is not happy because that means that he is expressing something. It rarely happens without him going psycho," Bones quipped.

"Be nice. He is the one who convinced me to marry you," she told her fiancé.

"Hey, I'm giving you permission to sleep with him in a medical emergency. I am being nice." She just rolled her eyes.

"What about your career?" she asked, because really she doesn't want to hold him back. She cares about him too much to do that.

"What about it? I don't exactly want to be one of the 'idiots in charge' after I've seen how horrible they can be. I'll go back into private practice first." Nyota didn't want to tell him that he did make that rank in the other dimension. It's amazing what leaks through during mind meld sex during the middle of the blood fever. (Although, she seriously wondered how Other Spock was able to hide anything about her father from her. Other Spock was such a snarky geriatric.)

"Also, I don't necessarily think it's the best idea for your husband to also be your first officer. I mean, there's a reason why surgeons don't operate on their own family. I can't be objective when it comes to you," he told her honestly.

"Jim and Spock did okay," Nyota said defensively.

"They did fine as long as they had you babysitting the two idiots. Jim and Spock have done some pretty stupid things in the name of keeping each other alive and kicking. Spock doesn't think straight when it comes to Jim. He never has. It makes me feel sorry for Carol, who now has the misfortune of keeping those two alive," he joked before becoming serious. "If something happened to you, I think I would be too emotionally compromised to go on."

She thought back to the mission that they don't talk about. Spock literally went psycho because of that thing they don't talk about and she had to beam down to keep him from doing something utterly stupid. Then she thought about all the other missions where Spock practically got himself killed to save Jim. Her always by the book ex-boyfriend has probably broken every single regulation at least once for Jim's sake. Maybe the regulation made sense.

"You have a point," Nyota conceded.

"I trust Carol. I think you and she will make a good team," Leonard said as he kissed her on the forehead.

"We'll see. Right now let's just focus on the wedding tomorrow. Hopefully, I will still have somebody to walk me down the aisle in the morning," Nyota said, slightly worried that Spock would take the whole bridesmaid thing badly.

"The hobgoblin will be over it by morning. The idiots will probably be 'christening' every bathroom in the Vulcan Embassy after the ceremony." The scary thing was, even though her fiancé was joking, Leonard was probably right.

"Spock has a bathroom fetish, so that probably will happen," Nyota said with a smile.

"I didn't need to know that about the hobgoblin," Leonard said jokingly. She realized in that moment that Leonard really wasn't jealous of her relationship with Jim and Spock. Maybe this marriage thing would work out after all.

To be continued

* * *

This A/N may contain spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness: I decided to use Carol because I don't think Jim and Spock can be left on their own for six months without doing something utterly stupid. I was originally going to have to use an original character, but the new film provided me with this wonderful possibility.

Until I watched the new film, I was planning on Bones being Nyota's first officer, but it made me realize that maybe two people who were completely in love with each other should not be in those positions. Also I cannot resist the absolute fabulousness of an all-female command team.

Honestly, the new film only makes sense if Jim and Spock are completely in love with each other. (Actually, I'm pretty sure I could make the film compliant for my story Dear Spock by only changing about two or three things. Therefore, you're getting a post STID Dear Spock sequel once this story is done.) I think the only reason why they did not grasp hands during the hospital scene was because if they did that they would lose all plausible deniability of Jim and Spock being in love with each other in that way. Review if you think that was a Vulcan kiss in that scene.


	33. Vows

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This was originally going to be the last chapter but I decided that the wedding needed to be a separate chapter so this is a lot shorter than what I've done recently. The good news is the next chapter is done and with my beta. The bad news is my computer died last night. The good news is the stuff I already had written is backed up. The bad news is that it may take me a few days to get another computer. I'm uploading this at work. (Because of that, I cannot post this everywhere I normally post).

Also, thank you to everybody who provided possible wedding songs for the reception. I decided to take this chapter in a different direction after I realized that I've done way too many wedding receptions in my stories. I'm doing something I've never done before in this chapter and I hope you like it.

Spoiler alert: This story will contain a few things derived from Star Trek Into Darkness. (I just had to make a joke about the underwear scene.) These elements are completely mixed up with things from my own imagination, so it may be hard to tell what came from where, therefore you should be able to remain unspoiled. Proceed with caution.

Also, I read through the earlier chapters and I don't think my version of how Jim and Spock got together conflicts with what I wrote earlier but if it does go with the new version. At some point, my inner perfectionist will kick in and I probably will rewrite the early chapters anyway to be more STID compliant.

Warning: Grab a tissue. I started crying three times when writing this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 33: Vows

Spock remembered his own wedding nearly 3.8 years ago quite well. Although Vulcans are not known for giving in to nervousness, he remembered being quite nervous. He did not understand why because the ceremony was merely a formality. For all intents and purposes, he and James had been married by Vulcan standards since his last adolescent Pon Farr 2.4 years earlier. However, he was still uneasy and afraid that something would go wrong. He was fearful that his father would try to stop the ceremony. He was afraid that some sort of disaster needing his or Jim's attention would occur, therefore putting a halt to the ceremony. He had a nightmare where James did not survive the 'incident that they do not speak of' and that their entire relationship was just a dream.

However, his own apprehension preceding his wedding vows to James was nothing compared to Nyota's current state. In the last hour, she has thrown up six times, considered calling off the wedding four times, and started crying when James' sister-in-law Akia asked why Dr. Marcus was her maid of honor instead of Dr. Chapel. She was currently in the restroom with Akia and Amanda repairing her makeup.

Spock himself was not entirely pleased with the fact that Dr. Marcus was not only attending the ceremony, but was now in fact part of the ceremony. He was well aware that at one point Nyota was very close to the doctor. However, her negative views about Nyota assisting him and James in their efforts to start a family had put a considerable strain on their friendship, in addition to the fact that they were no longer serving on the same ship. Contrary to what James assumed, he was not jealous of Dr. Marcus because the James Kirk and Carol Marcus of the other dimension created a child together. (He really wished that his other self would actually keep his vow not to divulge any information regarding their lives in the other dimension. This was one thing he was better off not knowing.)

He was not jealous of Carol at all and it had nothing to do with the fact that Vulcans do not feel jealousy. Spock was secure in the knowledge that James loves him unconditionally. Recent incidents with Sam have shown Spock conclusively that individuals in this dimension can be drastically different than their other dimension counterparts.

His displeasure with the doctor came from her treatment of Nyota. She said many harsh things to her supposed friend when Nyota decided to become their surrogate. Spock will not repeat what was said, but her words made Nyota cry on multiple occasions. If Nyota wanted to repair their fractured friendship, especially in light of the fact that Dr. Marcus apologized, Spock would support her. This reconciliation was very necessary considering Dr. Marcus will eventually serve as Nyota's first officer. However, he would remain wary of the doctor.

Spock was less than pleased when James broke the news to him that Admiral Dana was using the doctor in his latest attempt to get James out of Starfleet (and most likely ruin Spock's marriage just to spite him because the man believed Spock was another individual responsible for his son's death on Vulcan). Spock knew that James realized that he would be less than pleased, because James decided to break the news post-intercourse. After nearly four years of marriage, James knew that the best time to tell Spock anything unpleasant would be post-coital . That was how James got him to agree to visiting his father during this less than pleasant shore leave. Again, his displeasure did not come out of a place of jealousy, but rather his desire to protect those he considered family, and Nyota was family.

"You are unhappy with my placement on Enterprise," the doctor stated, once she finished changing into her dress for the wedding. Apparently, she had no trouble changing in front of Spock due to the fact that he was happily married to a man. It was not the first time for her. (Spock had never informed his husband that the reason the doctor had changed in front of Jim the first time was because she was operating under the assumption that he was homosexual [a six on the Kinsey scale], due to a less than fortunate incident Jim had had with Dr. Chapel at the Academy.)

"I am not unhappy because that is an emotion that I do not possess," Spock said sharply.

"How long did we work together? I saw your interactions with your daughter Amanda earlier. You seemed to radiate happiness in addition to other emotions," the doctor said pointedly. "I am aware that you dislike me."

"You are a highly capable Starfleet officer and should do well in the position, especially after receiving additional training from myself." What was left unsaid was 'but if you do anything to hurt Nyota I will hurt you'.

"Yet, you are still wary of me."

"I am well aware of what you said to Nyota in regards to her assisting us with starting a family," Spock said, keeping any emotion out of his voice.

"What I said was improper and I have since apologized for it. I was unable to see the situation objectively," Dr. Marcus said as she fidgeted with her bouquet.

"Because you grew up as what is commonly referred to as a 'Starfleet brat'?" he questioned.

"I spent my formative years at a British boarding school because both of my parents were more dedicated to Starfleet than to me. I did not want that to happen to another child," she explained. He understood to a degree, but there were only a few occasions where his father's diplomatic career required him to live away from his parents. However, James did experience this for several years when he was a young child.

"Neither James nor I are your father. Our children will always come first," Spock said almost defensively. "You are not the only one with issues with your father. My relationship with my father is quite contentious, yet I did not allow that to influence my decision or my interactions with close companions. That was no excuse for your conduct regarding Nyota. You made her cry on more than one occasion," Spock told her without inflection.

"Yes, but at least your father is still alive for you to resolve these issues," Dr. Marcus mumbled under her breath.

"I wanted to become a biologist, but my dad wanted me to become a weapons expert, so I studied physics instead. He was the only reason why I joined Starfleet in the first place." Considering what Spock knew about her in the other dimension, this news did not surprise him at all.

"I did exactly what my father wanted me to do because I felt that was the only way for me to receive his affection, especially after my mother died. Nyota informed me that a similar situation was occurring between you and your father. He refused to allow you to marry James unless you agreed to procreate right away. You may never see me as more than a colleague, but I did not want the same thing to happen to you." Spock wondered exactly how much Nyota had told Dr. Marcus about the true circumstances behind their decision to create Amanda before the end of the mission, as well as how much Nyota had withheld from him regarding the context of the conversation she had had with the doctor regarding her decision to become their gestational carrier.

"I called Christine," the doctor said after the silence became too long. "I know Nyota wants her to be here. I thought that maybe if another friend called her, she would change her mind."

"Were you successful?" Spock asked hopefully. He could feel Nyota's distress regarding the situation with Christine.

"No, she's still upset about the babies and her marrying Doctor McCoy. She is too stubborn to listen to me right now. I will try to convince her otherwise once I arrive back on Enterprise," the doctor said sadly, just as Nyota and her mother entered the room. That abruptly ended all conversation. Nyota was slightly calmer now, but that was probably because someone had had the foresight to bring her chamomile tea.

Her makeup was expertly reapplied, because no signs of her earlier outburst remained. She was now wearing her wedding gown. It was a light lilac, because Nyota felt it was ridiculous for her to wear white when she was 12 weeks pregnant with children from a 'previous relationship'. Amanda's dress was similar, but a slightly darker shade of purple. To him, they were the two most beautiful women in the universe.

Akia was behind taking pictures of the bridal party. She was functioning as the de facto wedding photographer because that was the one thing they forgot to arrange during the hasty preparations for the ceremony. A few minutes after Alexis left the room to run a few errands, Spock received the text message from James letting him know that it was time for the ceremony to begin.

* * *

"Stop fussing, Dad," Bones' daughter said as she tried to straighten up her father's tie. It was a losing battle, but better her than him. Jim thought it was bizarre that the little girl who used to have a crush on him when he shared a room with her father back at the Academy was now in college and dating the type of guys that reminded Jim way too much of himself at that age for his personal comfort. They really do grow up so fast and he was so not looking forward to Amanda's teenage years.

"He's Bones, he is always fussy," Jim said with a smirk. "You should have seen him when we were trying on suits. If it wasn't for Amanda's pretty little eyelashes, he would be here wearing jeans and a T-shirt."

"Yeah, well, you are an asshole," Bones shot right back.

"That sounds about right for Daddy. I guess I should be thankful for my new stepsister?" She said the word stepsister as if it was a question.

"Legally and psychologically, Nyota is Amanda's mom. So she would be your stepsister. Things will be a little bit more straightforward with the new babies because they are biologically Nyota's." The formerly little JoJo just glared at him. "Okay, so we might need to get you a chart. Don't give me that look. Five years and 800 people on a ship together, things happen. Aliens and fertility drugs were involved. This was so not our fault," Jim said defensively.

"I was not going to say anything about the obviously incestuous nature of the Enterprise command team/family. Mom may have said something about the fact that my dad marrying a woman who's pregnant by two other guys with... well, that I'm not going to repeat, but I'm cool with it," she said with a smile that worried Jim.

"That's because your mom is a judgmental…" Jim cut Bones off with a glare. Ex-wife rants were bad for his health.

"No bad mouthing the ex-wife in front of your kid. I had enough of that growing up," Jim said, correcting Bones.

"It's not bad mouthing when it's true," Bones' daughter told the two. "She is judgmental. She hates my boyfriend, she hates my major, she hates my friends, and she hates the fact that I'm planning on going to the Academy after undergrad." Jim already knew about this because he was the one who wrote a letter of recommendation for JoJo. However, Bones looked like a fish before he started to go into the 'disease nature of space' speech.

"Dad, really, not today. This is your wedding. You can be mad at me later, but it's my life. I like Nyota. She's a lot better than that loser mom married." Jim was sure that Bones had some sharp retort ready, but Jim was utilizing his 'don't say a fucking thing' eyebrows of death that he got from his husband. The look was guaranteed to make Ensigns wet their pants and Bones shut up.

"She's good for you. I have never seen you this happy before. Dad, you deserve to be happy," she said, squeezing Bones' hand.

"I may have been really little, but I remember how bad things were for you and mom. She hurt you and you really haven't been able to let anyone else in since the divorce. I mean, I know you dated. I even met Dr. Marcus, but that was not a relationship." Jim wanted to say that was just fucking in the supply closet, but he knew when to keep his mouth shut.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm happy for you, Daddy. Also, maybe if you're having sex on a regular basis, you will stop growling at my boyfriends," JoJo said as she pulled her father into a hug.

"That will never happen," Jim mumbled under his breath. It was the inherent right of every father to growl at the prospective boyfriend (or girlfriend) of their little girl.

"As much as I enjoyed this touching father-daughter moment, we need to get this wedding started before the bride ends up crying in the bathroom again," Alexis said, peaking in the doorway. "Baby hormones and wedding day jitters are a bad combination. She just spent 20 minutes crying in the bathroom after Akia said something about Christine not being there. Could somebody have warned me about the Christine thing?" Alexis asked with annoyance.

"Sorry. We were all hoping Carol would be able to talk her into changing her mind," Jim explained. "Please tell me my husband is behaving around her."

"We did leave the two alone in the dressing room for about 20 minutes, but I didn't hear any shouting or breaking of furniture," Alexis replied laughingly.

"The Vulcan nerve pinch is silent but effective," Jim said as he messaged to his husband to let him know that they were ready to start and to see if he did anything to Carol that he shouldn't have. Dealing with an overly jealous Vulcan husband for the next six months was going to be so much 'fun'.

"She was fine when we got back. They're currently distracting Nyota by taking wedding pictures," Alexis said, reassuring him.

15 minutes later he was waiting with Bones at the altar. To keep his husband's inner Cave Vulcan from coming out, it was decided that Carol would walk down with Amanda. After the ceremony was over, Jim would walk back up with Amanda and Carol would be left unescorted, which was fine with her. JoJo was sitting up front between Jim's foster son and his baby sister-in-law. Sarek was there too. Jim had thought that he would never live to see a five-year-old Vulcan arguing with her father. The five-year-old was not quite okay with her dad's divorce yet. She was even more not okay with moving to earth because her mom's lover doesn't want to move to New Vulcan. Although unlike Jim's family, Spock's family can sit there and smile for the wedding (Vulcan style of course) and not cause a riot.

Amanda was adorable in her little miniature wedding dress. Rather, she was cute until she threw her bouquet at her grandfather and started to run to Jim. Carol was chasing behind her mumbling "I'm never having children," on repeat. Jim couldn't help but laugh, but then again so was Other Spock, in a very Spockian way. Did he mention that Other Spock decided to make the trip to the wedding? He gave his nephew's baby mama the job of keeping Other Spock sober and chocolate free for this wedding. She owed him after what happened at his mother's funeral. Chris just had his head in his hands and Bones was shaking his head until his bride walked through the double doors of the Embassy.

He has known Bones for more than 12 years and Jim has never seen the man smile so much. The only time that even came close was when Alexis worked her magic and Bones found out that his JoJo would be living with him for an entire year. Jim was pretty sure that Bones forgot that he was even in the room.

That's okay, because Jim was currently staring at his husband and remembering the day that he felt the exact same way. Nyota walked Spock down the aisle at their wedding. It was kind of symbolic. If it wasn't for her, they would still be dancing around each other. Even after dying (sort of), he wasn't ready to admit that he was completely in love with his first officer. Nyota forced the issue and he will be grateful to her for the rest of his life.

Although Spock looked sexy as hell in anything, including formal Vulcan wedding robes, Jim kind of wished now that they had told Spock's father to fuck off and have the wedding that they really wanted to have, because Spock looked absolutely striking in that suit. They would have had the shortest ceremony ever because he would have dragged Spock to the nearest closet and/or bathroom to fuck him against the wall (or the other way around because he wasn't that picky).

"_**Do not think such crude things,"**_ Spock said over their bond, after he ceremonially gave away the bride, even though he objected to such an arcane tradition.

"_**Shut up when I'm admiring you. Nobody's paying attention. They're all looking at the bride,"**_ Jim said psychically as Spock took the seat next to Alexis. Amanda quickly worked her way out of Jim's arms and ran to Spock. He let her go because Spock might have a chance of keeping her still for the rest of the ceremony, maybe.

"_**This is her wedding. It would be rude not to pay attention to the ceremony,"**_ he told Jim just as he gave Amanda his 'don't do anything else that will embarrass me or cause an interplanetary diplomatic incident' look.

"_**I'd rather pay attention to you. I can't help but remember the day that you were up there with me when I watch those two together. Sometimes, I don't know why you agreed to marry me,"**_ Jim told Spock honestly.

"_**I do not either," **_Spock said with a mental sigh.

"_**Shut up, I'm being serious,"**_ Jim barked at his husband.

"_**I am not speaking,"**_ Spock told him in the most bratty way imaginable.

"_**Stop being so literal,"**_ Jim said with a mental sigh. _**"I don't know how you can love me sometimes. Before we met, I did a lot of dumb things and people. Personally, I'm surprised I'm not the one who died of an alien STI. I still don't remember what I did to piss off Dr. Chapel so much that she keeps trying to have sex with you."**_

"_**According to what Dr. Marcus told Nyota, you went out with Dr. Chapel three times at the Academy at the insistence of her other friend Megan. I was told it was a 'group thing'. On one of these dates, she caught you receiving oral sex from another gentleman after she turned down the invitation to engage in a threesome with you and her friend,"**_ Spock explained matter-of-factly, and Jim started to piece the hazy details together.

"_**Wait, now I remember. Megan was my lab partner and she had a crush on her. She wanted me to help her hook up with Christine in exchange for help on a certain special project. Unfortunately, Dr. Chapel is a Kinsey zero and turned down the threesome thing. I decided to find company elsewhere for the evening. The next day, Megan was furious at me for reasons that she never explained and refused to help me with that special project, which is why I ended up going with Gaila. Considering that was why I heard about a certain Klingon transmission, it's all good,"**_Jim told Spock to keep his husband from giving him his 'you are not getting any for the next week' look. Jim hated that look.

"_**Because of this incident, I have had to endure the sexual advances of Dr. Chapel for the last 2.3 years,"**_Spock said psychically with annoyance.

"_**Yes, but it appears that I did not have sex with her and completely forgot about it."**_ Spock nodded his head in agreement. "Thank god." Unfortunately, Jim said that out loud and everybody turned around to look at him. Nyota may or may not have growled at him.

"Carry-on," Jim said with a smile.

"_**Nyota will cause you certain bodily harm once the ceremony is over. Please, pay attention,"**_ Spock mentally admonished him.

"_**She will do that regardless after she sees my little surprise for her. I'm trying to be serious here. I love you. I love you when you're being jealous of Carol for no good reason. I love you when you're being an asshole. I even love you when you snitch on me to the admiralty," **_Jim said with a mental laugh.

"_**I do not consider sending an accurate report 'snitching' by any definition of the term." **_Jim responded by shaking his head at Spock.

"_**I still love you anyway when you're being a snarky bad ass. There are some days when I think this is all a dream. Maybe, I did die that day and there was no way to bring me back. Maybe, this was all just a dream that I'm afraid to wake up from.**_ Don't give me that look because you feel the same way. You think too loud sometimes." Jim joked, before becoming serious again._**"**__**However, I knew in that moment that I would love you for the rest of my life, even if it was only a few more seconds. Every minute after that, I have cherished."**_ Jim was starting to tear up at that moment. Fortunately, it was a wedding and crying was accepted.

"_**I love you too, T'hy'la," **_Spock replied simply via their link.

"The rings, Jim," Nyota hissed at him, breaking him out of his mental conversation with his husband. He quickly handed the rings over and Nyota started her vows as if nothing just happened.

"I, Nyota, take you Leonard, to be my lawfully wedded husband. Before our friends and family, I vow to love you unconditionally in spite of your imperfections for the rest of our lives. Actually, I vow to love you for your imperfections. I will be there for you in good times and bad. I promise to treat your daughter as if she was my own flesh. I will support you in everything you do. I promise to listen, even if I don't necessarily agree with you." Alexis just cracked up at that. Actually, so did JoJo.

"I promise to hold your hand as the world falls apart. You are the only person I want to be with as the world falls apart. I vow to be your best friend and lover until my last breath." Tears were running down Nyota's cheeks and she could barely speak the words. Her fingers fumbled as she placed the ring on Bones' finger.

"I, Leonard, take you Nyota, as my lawfully wedded wife. Before our friends and family, I vow to love you unconditionally for who you are and not who I wish you were. I promise to accept your imperfections and listen to you even when I know I'm right." No one in the audience could stifle laughter at that unless they were crying (or of Vulcan ancestry). Jim wasn't crying anymore, it was just allergies.

"I promise not to shut you out and let you into my heart. I promise to love your children as if they were my own and protect them until my last breath. I will hold your hand as the world falls apart. You are the only one I want to be with when it all comes undone." His usually gruff doctor friend was also crying as he placed the ring on Nyota's finger.

Chris went on to do the regular legal stuff that Jim could recite in his sleep because he's done so many ceremonies himself. Then came the kiss. It was just this side of appropriate for small children and Dana actually fell out of his chair. Jim believes that until that moment, the man was still under the delusion that this was just a marriage of convenience. But you couldn't lie in a kiss like that.

Finally, Mr and Mrs. Uhura–McCoy marched up to the Embassy. Again, he was supposed to walk back up with Amanda, but the four-year-old had other plans and decided that her two daddies should walk back together. She was already dragging poor Carol up the aisle.

Instead, he placed his hand and Spock's in such a way that made his five-year-old niece actually drop her mouth in shock. Oddly enough, his father-in-law's only response was to raise an eyebrow.

* * *

3.8 years earlier

Despite the Vulcan wardrobe and everything else they did to cater to his soon to be father-in-law's expectations, they decided to go with a traditional Earth ceremony. Spock suggested it, since they were already married by Vulcan standards anyway. Sarek was pissed but Spock did not care. Actually, Spock was probably happy about that.

For the entire ceremony, he was shaking. Jim doesn't understand why, since technically they were already married by Vulcan standards, if nothing else. If you had told him just five years ago that he would be standing across from his Vulcan first officer ready to pledge his everlasting love, he would have laughed in your face. Yet, somehow, it happened. Of course, he didn't realize he loved Spock until he died (fortunately, it wasn't permanent). That makes sense with his totally fucked up life.

Now, this was his second chance and he was going to take it. He placed his hand on Spock's as his lover began to speak.

"I, S'chn T'gai Spock, take you, James Tiberius Kirk, to be my lawfully wedded husband. In front of these witnesses, I vow to love, cherish, and appreciate who you are. I promise to stay with you through adequate times and those that are less than optimal. I promise to respect you. I promise to see you as an equal in all things. I promise to listen to you. I promise to let you in emotionally. I promise to stay open to you. You are my love, you are my family, but most importantly you are my best friend. You will always be my friend. I will love you until death and beyond. I vow to spend the rest of my life with you. You are the only one I want to be on this journey with." Jim was crying and surprisingly enough, so was Spock. The last time he cried involved Jim actually dying. Spock quickly wiped the tear away as he slid the ring on Jim's finger.

"I, James Tiberius Kirk, take you Spock 'I am not even going to try to pronounce your full name', as my lawfully wedded husband. I vow in front of our friends and family that I will always be by your side. I promise to love you with all my being. I accept you as you are even when you act like a damn computer." His sister-in-law was laughing at that. Actually, so was Nyota, who was chuckling into her bridal bouquet.

"I love you as you are. I promise to be loyal to you. I promise to be your best friend and lover. I promise to give you all of myself and stand by your side. I promise to respect you and always see you as an equal. I will die for you. I will live for you. You are my heart." He was supposed to place the ring on Spock's finger at that moment. But his Spock had other ideals and decided a kiss was in order. Pike may have been mad, but it was the perfect ending to his wedding.

To be concluded

All the wedding vows are original. However, I did use an online template to help with structure.


	34. I Survived This Vacation

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This is the final chapter of Starfleet Family Values followed by the epilogue.

Spoiler alert: There are elements taken from STID in this chapter. Again, they are mixed in with things from my slightly deranged imagination so, it may be hard to tell what is an actual spoiler and what's just something I'm making up but please proceed at your own caution.

Warning: Sexual content of multiple orientations

* * *

Chapter 34: I Survived This Vacation and All I Got Were a Few More Insane Family Members.

"You don't have to carry me over the threshold." Nyota said to her husband of six hours and 24 minutes. If Spock were there, he probably would've been able to tell her the exact seconds but he was currently at a undisclosed location with Jim (the kids were currently on their way to Ohio with Grandma Alexis and Grandpa Sarek for a Cedar Point vacation). Jim and Spock skipped out on the reception after the ceremonial roasting of the happy couple where Jim repeatedly thanked her for hooking him up with his husband and essentially claimed that he was returning the favor by getting her to finally admit that they were head over feet in love with each other. Okay, maybe there was some truth to that. If it wasn't for her, Jim and Spock would still be dancing around each other. The boys were hopeless without her.

However, the idiot left before he could see his own revenge for her song choice at their wedding. Any song with lyrics like, "At the same time, I wanna hug you; I wanna wrap my hands around your neck," and "you're an asshole, but I love you," just screamed Jim and Spock. So it wasn't exactly a traditional love song, but the title was _True Love,_ so it worked.

To get back at her, the bastard hired a Bruno Mars cover band and told them to play _Marry You_' for the first dance instead of _It Will Rain_ like she asked. She was going to kick him in the balls when she saw him again. Okay, he may have also been getting her back for the incident at the Academy where she may have scared off a few of his 'dates' by having the same cover band dedicate the song _Runaway Baby _to him. It pretty much sums up a lot of Jim's pre-Spock romantic behavior.

"You're three months pregnant and about to drop at any moment. You are also unbelievably tiny. What were you, a ballet dancer in a previous life?" he said, carrying her into the posh suite at one of the best hotels in San Francisco. This was her Best Friend present from Spock and Jim. Two nights in the honeymoon suite filled with sparkling cider, the best food, and a massage therapist on call. She's pretty sure the suite was bigger than her first house.

"I was a runner. You can put me down now," she said as Leonard kept walking through the suite.

"Not yet," he said as the door to the bedroom opened. The room was humongous, with a giant king-size bed in the middle filled with pillows. Considering how exhausted she was, the pillows looked lovely. She actually felt like she was going to fall asleep the moment her body hit the bed. Unfortunately, the gift basket on the bed fell on top of her as she literally crashed on all those wonderful cushions.

Normal people get their friends a gift basket filled with fruit, chocolate, or maybe alcohol. Jim Kirk got her a gift basket filled with half the inventory of a sex shop, including vibrators, lots of lubricants in various flavors, handcuffs, a ball gag, and some sort of swing that she will never ever use.

"I would think this was a gag gift if it came from anybody else but Jim. The idiot probably thinks he's being helpful," Leonard said with a groan.

"Even if I wasn't three months pregnant and currently banned from doing anything more strenuous than heavy petting, I would be too exhausted to use anything in that basket except for maybe the massage oil," she was worn out. She spent half the reception chasing Amanda and the other half of the reception avoiding distant family members that were convinced she was only getting married because she got pregnant (none of them believed the 'aliens made her pregnant' thing). She's going to kill whoever leaked the pregnancy thing to the media. Actually, she was going to kill Admiral Dana for making her have a big small wedding instead of an intimate affair with the few people that she actually liked. The best moment of the evening was watching Akia and Carol shoot down the guy when he tried to 'proposition' both of them.

"You forget that those two have started going at it after surviving a battle with Klingons." The scary thing was, her husband wasn't joking (Nyota was still getting used to calling him that, but she kind of liked it).

"Yes, well I'm not like either of them. My back hurts, I have a headache, and I didn't want to risk throwing up during the festivities so I didn't eat anything. All I want to do is get out of this dress and go to sleep." That's when she felt steady hands reach behind her and pull down the zipper. The feel of his fingers on her back made her shiver.

"I can help with that," he said, kissing her on the shoulder. His fingers brushed her skin as he continued to push the dress down her body. "However, eventually you have to eat something before you pass out instead of just falling asleep." Of course, he said this as his hands were brushing across the black lace fabric of her bra. She may have gotten the maternity lingerie set that Spock picked out for her. She was never telling her husband that her ex-boyfriend picked out her honeymoon underwear. It was too bizarre.

She knew he was right, but she didn't exactly want to call for room service. By the time they got there she would either be asleep or possibly otherwise indisposed.

"Check the kitchen. This honeymoon was set up by both Jim and Spock. Spock is going to give us provisions," she said, knowing that Spock would at least be practical about this sort of thing.

"Which means there might be something edible in this suite other than the underwear," Leonard said, holding up a package of raspberry pomegranate edible underwear. Jim had issues. It was also a little scary that Jim knew that was her favorite flavor.

Thankfully, Spock really was the practical one in that pairing and they had a kitchen filled with her favorite foods that were still baby friendly. So she fell asleep on top of her new husband as he fed her strawberries and whipped cream, but it was still a good first night. She would make it up to him in the morning. She was planning to give him her favorite wake-up call to display her excellent oral sensitivity. Akia said that was okay.

* * *

He was expecting to have to deal with members of the admiralty that he really really hated and the world's longest wedding reception. They don't like him and he doesn't give a fuck and they hate that. What he got was being dragged out of the Embassy post toast to a car waiting outside. Jim didn't exactly ask questions at the time because he got to have limo sex and he loves limo sex. However, when Jim arrived to a beautiful dinner on a private yacht, he decided he should probably ask his husband what's going on. (Something was obviously up when Spock was letting him have dead cow for dinner.)

"In light of the stress of recent events, I feel that it would be advantageous to spend a few days alone in a restful setting. I have arranged for us to spend the last few days of shore leave on this yacht," Spock said in the most matter of fact way possible. Jim's response was to kiss Spock.

"Sometimes, you're wonderful. There are not words in standard to describe how screwed up these last few weeks have been. This wonderful vacation began with me getting cursed out by your sibling's nanny which led to us having to babysit your siblings for the last two weeks." Spock was giving him the 'don't say anything about my siblings' eyebrows of death. Apparently, he had grown close to his sister and baby brother over the last few weeks. That can only be a good thing. "I like mini Spock and the little one, but only in small doses," he added to pacify his husband. "Then I had to deal with your dad, who may not hate me, but still scares me."

"I do not understand why you find my father frightening," Spock said in slight annoyance as he took the first bite of his grilled portobello mushrooms.

"Don't give me that," Jim said, rolling his eyes. "You're scared of him too. Fathers naturally hate anybody who's having sex with their kid. A long time from now, when Amanda shows up with her significant other, we will truly understand how your father feels about me." Jim hoped that was a very long time from now. He was dreading it because karma was going to kick his ass big time for all the men and women that he screwed over before he figured out he was completely in love with Spock.

"Your point is valid," Spock said as he dropped his fork so he could clasp his hands around Jim's. After all these years, he still got a kick out of touching Spock like this.

"Things only got worse," Jim said, starting his angry rant again. "Let's see, after that we find out that your ex-whatever left you on the hook for a child that she sired because she was sexually assaulted by a member of Starfleet. Also, said member of Starfleet was the child of a certain Admiral that fucking hates us."

"I do not feel as if she left me on the 'hook', as is the vernacular. I find Sunk a pleasure to be around." That was Spock for 'I'm happy that we are his parents now because I hate that evil bitch'. Jim just wanted to roll his eyes. "Also, unlike Admiral Marcus, Admiral Dana has yet to try to kill us," Spock remarked dryly, and Jim started to laugh hysterically.

"I wish that were the case. I had a really long talk with Admiral Stepdad before the wedding. Do you remember that mission about six months ago where we ended up in jail for inappropriate touching on a planet where our marriage is not only illegal, but probably could get us executed?" Jim asked his husband. That mission had been a complete cluster fuck from the beginning. They only survived because Nyota was excellent at bullshitting the most hostile people in their native language.

"Considering that I have a perfect memory, I would obviously remember such an incident. I distinctly remember there being no mention of the planet's laws regarding such relationships being in the official briefing material." Only Jim could pick up on the anger in his husband's voice.

"Admiral Stepdad believes that information was taken out on purpose. Enterprise should not have been sent on that mission at all. It would be stupid and antagonistic to send a gay command team to investigate a planet with such beliefs," Jim said, rubbing his temples. At this point, Jim really should be used to members of the admiralty wanting him dead.

"At least not without some sort of warning to not disclose the true nature of our relationship," Spock said, trying to sound logical, but his husband was pissed.

"Admiral Stepdad is looking into it," Jim said, trying to pacify Spock.

"Good," Spock said simply as he went back to eating, and Jim decided to continue recapping the vacation from hell.

"Speaking of near-death experiences, I almost died due to_ soy laced pretzels_ and I got to spend quality hospital time sharing a room with Nyota. Let us not forget about her getting hospitalized due to problems with the babies," Jim said as he popped one of the Kobe beef sliders into his mouth. He loved the taste of real food, especially any food that Spock doesn't like for him to eat.

"However, she seemed to be doing much better. I believe her nausea this morning was solely caused by what humans refer to as 'pre-wedding jitters,'" Spock quipped.

"Yes, it was such a shame that she didn't vomit all over Dana again," Jim said sarcastically. "I'm sure the press would have loved that." The Vulcan Embassy was pretty much inundated by the press. Jim was kind of surprised he managed to sneak off the compound without getting caught. Then again, the noisy reporters were probably trying to figure out what was going on with the fact that their supposed lover was marrying another guy.

"I really despise the press, probably as much as the admiralty. They just made this horribly crappy vacation even worse. I consider it a small miracle that the only thing from my mom's disastrous funeral that was made public was the fight that broke out. I'm still looking for an article about George Kirk's illegitimate daughter to come out at any moment. I guess under perfectly normal circumstances, finding out I have a long-lost sister or dealing with my mother's death would be enough to make this the vacation from hell." Spock's response was to bend over and kiss Jim on the lips. That kiss made Jim forget about all the other crappy things that have happened, such as the entire fiasco with Sam, and Nyota being grounded to earth until the babies were born. Spock kisses were awesome like that.

"Okay, that makes everything just a little bit better," Jim said slightly dreamily as Spock pulled away.

"That was why I wanted us to spend quality time together away from our children so that you may be able to relax," Spock said as he clasped Jim's hand once more.

"I need to know where our children are before I can relax." Jim asked because he was a dad first now. The kids always came before sexy time with husband, even though he loves sexy time with husband.

"They will be with my father at that Ohio amusement park that played such a prominent role in your childhood," Spock explained, and Jim was shocked.

"Your father is taking four children, two of which are partially of human ancestry, to an amusement park by himself? You are a cruel man sometimes," Jim said, almost worried for his father-in-law. Just one-on-one time with Amanda scared Jim. Four against one usually did not go well.

"Alexis will be accompanying him," Spock said, nonplussed.

"Okay, you're so pimping your father out. What exactly did you talk about with Nyota's dad?" Jim asked curiously.

"That is confidential." Spock said quickly, giving Jim his 'I am never going to tell you' look.

"Your father agreed to this?" Jim asked, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything out of Spock.

"He suggested it." The thought alone was sending Jim into a happy place. Mostly, he was envisioning his ultra-stiff father-in-law being hugged by comic strip characters.

"Okay, that alone makes this trip tolerable," Jim said, grinning.

"Not everything on this vacation was horrible," Spock said, taking a drink of his chocolate laced alcohol.

"Name one thing?" Jim asked snidely. He couldn't really think of anything except for maybe this dinner right now.

"In addition to spending time with the family members that you actually like, you were able to witness the birth of your niece." Of course, Spock would start his list off with that. "You reconnected with Marissa and you gain a much more agreeable sibling. We rescued a child from an abusive mother and we are providing him with a stable home environment. You were made a member of the admiralty at age 34." Spock was doing so well until he mentioned that.

"I'm not that sure that was a positive thing," Jim mumbled under breath.

"Most importantly, Nyota became aware of her feelings for Doctor McCoy." Okay, Jim will agree that that was definitely a good thing, because he was kind of tired of those two dancing around each other. Although that did mean no more drunken make out sessions with Nyota unless he can talk Bones into a four-way and he's not sure Bones is a one or higher on the Kinsey scale.

"Yes, and thanks to Admiral Chicken, she had no choice but to run headfirst into marriage," Jim said sardonically.

"It is impossible to make Nyota do something she does not want to do," Spock said pointedly, and Jim nodded in agreement.

"That's so true. Okay, so maybe not everything was horrible. Although you missed one of the best things about this trip," Jim said, smiling.

"I do not miss things," Spock said with his sexy pout.

"Yes, you did. The most wonderful thing about this trip was you. I couldn't have made it through the last couple of weeks without you. I meant what I said during Nyota's wedding. Since the thing we don't talk about happened, I knew that I love you completely." He punctuated this with a quick kiss to Spock's lips. "Together we can get through anything, which was proven during these last few weeks, even if it means becoming a part of the 'powers that fuck with everyone'."

"You have many derogatory names for the Starfleet admiralty," Spock said, raising an eyebrow.

"Probably. What is your opinion on having sex out here?" Jim asked, concluding that he should probably get as much enjoyment out of these two days as he can. He would have to go back to doing Captain things soon.

"It is 16°C outside," Spock replied giving him the eyebrows of death. Although, secretly Jim knew that Spock was up for it, literally.

"I promise to keep you warm. This is supposed to be the nice de-stressing part of the vacation. I really do want to get you out of that suit. I've been thinking about it all afternoon," Jim said, using his 'I want to fuck you' voice.

"I know," Spock said as Jim decided it was the perfect time to use his tongue to remove a speck of sauce from Spock's finger. "The ship does have a deluxe suite for us to enjoy."

"Outdoor sex is so much more fun," Jim said as he continued to suck on Spock's finger. "It will be like that time we went camping," Jim said before taking another digit into his mouth.

"I don't consider being stuck on a planet with only emergency supplies due to a freak ion storm as camping," Spock shot back, although it lost some of its effect because Spock was groaning and using contractions.

"It wasn't that horrible. We did get to have a three day sex marathon. That fits my definition of camping. The worst part about it was being away from Amanda for three days." As Jim said this, he no longer felt like sucking Spock off via his fingers anymore. They had already talked about it, and they were going to let Amanda stay with Nyota and Bones on earth. They needed some time for Sunk to adjust to having normal parents that don't treat him like shit. Nyota needed mother/daughter bonding time.

"She will be fine with Nyota," Spock said, trying to be reassuring.

"I hate it when we're away from her. She is my baby," Jim said honestly. He really wondered how his mom did this.

"Nyota will take adequate care of Amanda. She always has," Spock said with another kiss to Jim's lips.

"I know," Jim said quietly as Spock pulled away.

"If it will prevent you from reentering a morose state, I would be willing to engage in certain sexual activities out here this evening," Spock offered. Jim just smirked and went for his husband's belt buckle, not caring about the rest of dinner. That was followed by pushing him up against the nearest flat surface not covered with half eaten food and kissing him as if this was going to be their last kiss ever.

* * *

Okay, Alexis really wondered why she volunteered to take four children to an amusement park in the middle of Ohio as her daughter and husband were on her honeymoon and Jim and Spock were somewhere remote, most likely doing each other. One child she could manage. She dealt with Nyota, so Amanda was no trouble. Okay, she was trouble, but Alexis knew what to look for and she had the good sense to put a harness on her because the kid could run. Amanda was so much like Nyota, that somedays she wondered if the technician did everything correctly. The almost 4-year-old dragged her and everyone else around the park. She was also now doing her best impression of a bouncy ball, because somebody forgot to mention that cotton candy was on the no-no list for children of Vulcan ancestry.

Sunk was skittish and overwhelmed by the vast amounts of people and food everywhere. He quickly ate everything given to him, afraid that it would be taken away. It made her wonder exactly how much damage that evil Vulcan did to her child. From what she's gathered, the circumstances behind his conception were less than ideal, but that was an excuse. If she couldn't deal with raising a child, she should have turned him over to someone else. With so few Vulcans left, any child was seen as precious.

The baby seemed to be enjoying himself, but young T'Mandy was a very angry young woman. She's wasn't as expressive as her niece, but T'Mandy was upset. Most children do not handle divorce well. It was a shock to the system. She remembered getting similar treatment from Nyota when she first started dating her dad. Very icy glares were pretty normal until about six months after the wedding. She wondered why exactly she was on the receiving end of such animosity from the little girl, who wasn't speaking to Alexis or her father. She was passing all messages through Amanda.

"She is still angry at you for the divorce?" Alexis asked as the children waited in line for the children's water ride that neither adult could go on. The toddler was currently sleeping in his stroller after several enjoyable hours of children's rides.

"Only because she feels that she is the reason why I have decided to relocate to earth." That was news to her.

"Divorce and moving to another planet. That's one hell of a midlife crisis you're having, Sarek," she said, shaking her head at him.

"I am only 102 years old by human standards. By Vulcan standards I am still quite young. I am too young to have this midlife crisis that you speak of." Her response was to laugh at his joke.

"It's an expression. You have a 19-month-old child. On Earth, that's like the ultimate youth accessory," Alexis said, shaking her head. If she wasn't so used to dealing with his son, she would be a little shocked.

"I mean that maybe you're changing things too fast. Did you even talk to your daughter before deciding to end your marriage and move to another planet?" Alexis questioned.

"You were the one who assisted me in finding a loophole, as humans may say," the Vulcan shot back at her.

"I know, and the divorce needed to happen. Neither you nor T'Pay were really happy and that was not good for the kids. I just think maybe some of her anger is coming from the fact that she is left out on the outside," Alexis explained.

"I am uncertain she is old enough to understand everything." Sarek said it as if it was an excuse.

"Of course she's not going to understand if you don't tell her anything. She's a bright kid. She can handle it." If he were human she would squeeze his hand in reassurance, but she has taken enough cultural sensitivity classes to know that was sexual harassment with a Vulcan.

"Has your relationship with Nyota improved since your return to earth?" Sarek asked, changing the subject. She just rolled her eyes.

"We are okay. She is not as angry now that she has spoken to her father and knows that he essentially banned me from telling her. Although, I'm sure the acquisition of my new son-in-law sped up the reconciliation process," she told him. "Now let's get back to why you are moving to another planet."

"T'Pay only moved back to the colony due to the extreme need of our people. She has never felt entirely comfortable around her fellow Vulcans. She prefers not to bring her lover to the colony, but does not want to be away from our children for long periods of time. Because I find earth fascinating and received a job offer on planet, it is only logical that I relocate," the Vulcan explained.

"Unfortunately five-year-olds don't see things as logically as adults do," Alexis said, taking a drink of her water.

"I surmise that this move will be most advantageous for both children because we will be relocating to an environment where children of divorce are not looked down upon." Okay, at least he was being honest with her. He was worried about how his kids would be treated by their fellow Vulcan children. He mentioned his biggest regret was not protecting Spock better from his peers. It seemed like a lot of Sarek's choices were motivated by trying to avoid all the mistakes he made with Spock.

"I know you're trying to be a good dad, but kids are going to be nasty no matter what. On the colony some idiots will make fun of your kids because their parents are divorced and their mom has a human significant other. On earth they will probably be teased by other idiots for being not human and because their dad is a big-time politician. You can't protect your kids from everything," she told him.

"I still felt that they would receive less cruel treatment than Spock did as a child." She just smiled to herself because she knew that was where this was coming from.

"So that's what this really is about. You screwed up the first time around and you're trying to make it up with the do-over batch of kids?" She said it as a question.

"Actually, Spock was my second child from my second marriage. Compared to what happened with my first son, Spock is a perfectly well-adjusted young Vulcan with a fascinating spouse and a wonderful daughter," the Vulcan explained.

"I really wish I had just taped you saying that. You have to promise me you will tell Spock that someday." Sarek's response was to raise an eyebrow at her.

"We can go around in circles until the kids get back but I don't feel like it. Can you just tell me the real reason why you're coming to Earth?" she asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Because I came to the conclusion that I have not really been living the last nine years. I took a wife because it was expected of me, even though I had no desire to marry again or even stay on the Council, when I am not entirely certain that is the most effective place for me to serve. I moved to the colony because it was expected of me. I created a replica of the house I shared with Amanda. I tried to pretend that things are the way they were, but I cannot replace what was lost. It is not the same."

She gets what he's saying. The last year, she has been going through that. Her husband was in an almost vegetative state and there was not enough technology in the universe to reverse that*. The life they had together was gone and she wasn't going to get it back. Maybe she should just do what her husband asked her to do and move on. It was just so hard to let go of the life they had together after more than 20 years.

"You can't replace your old life, but you can build a new one." She wondered if she was saying those words more to herself than to him.

"That is what I plan to do. It will be easier on earth. This is where my family will be," he explained.

She felt like there was more to it, but she didn't press. She didn't have time to because her granddaughter and her aunt started pushing each other in one of the little kids rafts. Those two girls were going to drive her crazy with their pseudo sibling rivalry.

* * *

Despite the lack of traditional sex, Leonard preferred this honeymoon over his first one. (Although, that may have had something to do with the fact that he married a woman who had no trouble with oral sex. Actually, Ny enjoyed the power that it gave her over him.) They slept until 11, had breakfast in bed after his special wakeup call, and at some point they had a couple's spa session. He normally hated that sort of thing, but he could enjoy any activity that got his wife to relax. He really thought that he would never say that word again without it being preceded by the word 'ex'. Yet, here he was, married once more and this time he was actually happy about it.

Leonard had not thought this day would ever come after his first disastrous marriage and his inability to do any relationship that went beyond sex. Of course, Nyota managed to sneak up on him. If they were not friends first, he doesn't think this would have happened. But they're here and he was enjoying it.

Ny was half asleep again, lying on the giant bed. He was conducting a scan that he was promptly mailing off to Akia. Jim's sister-in-law felt that he was not objective enough to monitor her progress. Considering that the sound of the heartbeats of both babies made him remember hearing JoJo's heartbeat for the first time, she may be right.

He knew that these two babies were not his, but rather the product of a diplomatic gift gone wrong (or maybe right, depending on your perspective). However, he was still glad for their existence. If Nyota had not gotten pregnant, they would still be dancing around each other. He definitely would not have left his shore leave to take care of her. He wouldn't have spent so much time alone with her. He would never have been forced into recognizing his feelings. Also, if it wasn't for Admiral Chicken Dick being his usual bastard self and using the babies as a means to ground Nyota, he probably wouldn't be married to her right now. He's already planning to send that idiot the biggest bottle of Bourbon he can find, with a card that says 'thank you'. Chris was planning to take a picture of it.

Of course, it was more than that. Due to Jim having flashbacks to that thing they don't talk about due to his mom dying and possibly due to his most recent near death experience with the pretzel, Jim made him promise to take care of his family in case his next near-death experience turned out to be more permanent. He also said something about seeing him as the brother that he wished he had.

"You are way too preoccupied with my stomach," Nyota said after a moment.

"I'm just making sure that the babies are okay. You'll be happy to know that your blood pressure has been the best that it has been in the last three weeks," he said as he forwarded the data to Akia.

"That is because for once on this vacation, I'm actually relaxed," Nyota said smiling. "I also think it has something to do with the massages and being fed fruit by a cute husband," she said, referring to earlier.

"I'm not cute," he groused.

"You can be as grumpy as you want to be, but you're still cute. It's good that it's just the two of us right now. Tomorrow we'll have Amanda again for the next six months. There's also apartment hunting and getting ready for our new jobs. I hate planet-based assignments," she said, starting to worry again.

"You're going to be interim head of the linguistics department. Don't worry about it," he said, lying down next to her as he wrapped an arm around her.

"I still hate it. I'm also going to have to find a school that will take Amanda."

"She's not four years old yet. She doesn't have to go to school on earth," he explained.

"Yes, but she'll drive the babysitter crazy otherwise. School's better for her. Besides, the reason why Jim and Spock agreed to let her spend quality time on earth was they felt it might be good for her to socialize with children her age, instead of Starfleet officers." He realized his wife did have a point. Amanda knew way too much for only being 3 ½ years old.

"You can think about it tomorrow. All the problems will still be there," he said, kissing her gently. Maybe the kisses were more than gentle, but unfortunately they were interrupted by his communicator chirping. He had no choice but to check because it was a message from Dr. Kirk. He laughed when he opened it, wondering if the message really came from Jim. Leonard could not believe that she actually wrote him a prescription to have sex with his wife. Of course, it was more detailed than that, containing advice about positions that would be best in order not to over-exert Nyota. He actually blushed, and considering he lived with Jim Kirk at the Academy, nothing should really make him blush anymore.

He actually messaged her back, asking if she was serious. Her response was yes and to 'have two orgasms and call me in the morning'. He just shook his head

"What did Akia say?" Nyota asked. His response was to pass the device over to her.

"Sometimes I think she's related to Jim by blood," she said, laughing.

"It was like they were separated at birth. The scary thing is, she's the one responsible for him being halfway responsible. Imagine what we would have to deal with if she wasn't around?" Leonard said, shivering.

"I've seen a couple of things in Other Spock's mind. It wouldn't be pretty. We got the better Jim," Nyota explained.

"You got that right," Leonard said in agreement.

"Now, I think we should follow doctor's orders," she said, just as she unfastened her red lace bra and it fell to the bed.

"I would hate to not follow doctor's orders."

"Daddy." Amanda ran into Spock's arms the minute he arrived at his father's residence at the Vulcan Embassy. "Grandpa let me get a tattoo," she said, pointing to the drawing of the 20th century cartoon dog that was on her cheek.

Spock knew he should not have trusted his father to watch his daughter and son while he and James were recovering from this vacation. The last two days were spent partaking in each other's company. Other than that incident where they were stuck on a planet for three days due to an ion storm, he and James have not been able to engage in this type of sexual behavior since Amanda's birth. It was refreshing.

Of course, they also scattered Winona's ashes at sea. James cried a lot and Spock just held him tightly. Afterward, they made love under the stars again, despite the cold early spring temperatures.

To his horror, James was just laughing behind him. He actually thought this was amusing.

"Don't worry, it's just face painting. It is a perfectly normal thing to do at an amusement park. I'm going to have to take you somewhere during our grounding on earth. That's something to look forward to," James said as he simultaneously kissed Spock on the lips and scooped Amanda into his arms.

"Your father only agreed to it if Amanda and mini Spock behaved for the rest of the trip. They acted like me and my sister when we were their age," Alexis said, shaking her head.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Spock asked with trepidation.

"They acted like beta fish on a boat ride actually." Spock shut his eyes as he got the reference. Spock was not really that surprised.

"I apologize for their improper behavior," Spock told Alexis quickly.

"It's okay. I love spending time with my grandbabies and your siblings are interesting. I also like your father. He is fascinating and I do have video file of him on multiple roller coasters as requested," she said, smiling at Jim.

"_**Isn't 'I find you fascinating,' the Vulcan equivalent of 'I want to fuck you against the wall'?" **_James asked Spock mentally. "You are like the best pseudo-mother-in-law ever," James said out loud as he smiled at Alexis.

"**Please don't be so vulgar," **Spock shot back over the link just as his father walked into the room.

"I am pleased that you and James seem to be refreshed after your time away," his father said, walking into the room with his younger brother and son behind. To his horror, Sunk's face was also covered in paint. This time it was a rainbow. Jim could not stop snickering.

"Thank you for watching the children in our stead," he told his father.

"It was an interesting experience," his father said quietly.

"Very interesting," Alexis said with a smile. "I need to get home. We'll get together next time you guys are on planet," she said, kissing both Amanda and Jim on the cheek before doing the same to Spock's father.

"_**You are so going to end up being step siblings with your ex-girlfriend."**_ James words caused him to trip although he was blaming the carpet.

* * *

When he and Spock were dressed in their new dress uniforms getting ready to board the shuttle back to Enterprise, he was ready to curse Admiral Chicken Dick for splitting up his family. He knew this would happen eventually. It's difficult to have tandem assignments when both you and your spouse are of a very high rank. The fact that they were three people, instead of two, just made everything more complicated. He knew this was the end of an era, made even worse by the fact that he and Spock were leaving Amanda on earth so she could have a few months of a normal childhood.

They had gotten most of the goodbyes out of the way yesterday with his and Spock's family. Now it was time to say goodbye to Mandy and Ny.

"You promise to be good for Mommy Nyota and Uncle Bones?" he said, hugging Amanda as he tried not to cry in public.

"I promise, Daddy. I'll miss you," Amanda said, kissing him on the cheek before moving on to her Daddy Spock.

"I really do hate this," Nyota said as she walked over to hug him goodbye.

"We have survived worse. It's only going to be six months," he said, trying to smile.

"That's what I'm worried about. Just try not to do anything that will get you killed. I don't want to raise these babies alone," Nyota said as a lone tear slid down her cheek.

"I promise, but don't worry, you have your long-suffering husband to help you. Considering you're glowing, I assume your marriage is legal throughout the Federation. You have that 'I just got laid' look about you," Jim joked. That just got him a glare.

"You know, maybe I won't miss you that much," she said after a moment.

"Yes, you will. You love me anyway," Jim said with a smirk.

"Yes, I do," Nyota said, pulling away from him. She quickly said similar goodbyes to Spock as she grabbed Amanda from Spock to leave. Bones wasn't there because they had said their goodbyes earlier, because they were manly men who did not cry in public. Whatever happened on the shuttle was just allergies, really it was.

* * *

Much to her delight, because she was acting head of the linguistics department, she received her own apartment on the Starfleet Academy campus. It was a lot nicer than any accommodations that she has had before. It had three bedrooms and an office. The master bedroom was decorated in Starfleet standard but somebody (most likely Scotty) managed to send Amanda's bedroom from Enterprise. Everything was there, including her dolls of the world collection and her daddy action figures. She was sure that Amanda would be sleeping with those dolls to help with the 'being away from daddies' blues'.

"Not bad for a starter home," Leonard said as they watched Amanda run around her room, happily checking to see if all her toys made the long trip from the ship.

"Yeah, but it's not really home. It's not Enterprise," she said sadly.

"We'll be back there soon. We just have to keep the two little ones safe in the meantime," her husband said, kissing her stomach.

A few weeks ago she was still freaking out over the fact that she somehow managed to get pregnant because the aliens made her do it. She was terrified of everything that entailed, but mostly she was afraid of being alone. Now she was happily married and ready to accept motherhood. She wasn't happy about being on Earth, but she'd be back on Enterprise soon. Even though most of this trip was horrible, it was the best shore leave she has ever had because she gained everything she ever wanted. She now had a family, even if it was a unique one.

* * *

When James arrived on Enterprise, he literally kissed the ground. "It is so good to be home," he said as his son looked on slightly bewildered.

"Is he okay?" Dr. Marcus asked from the sidelines.

"I'm fine, it's just really good to be home," James said as he got up from the ground and grabbed Spock's hand. _"__**Even if it's not going to be home much longer,**__" _Jim said mentally through their bond.

"We will create a new home. My mother always said that home was a family, not a place," Spock said out loud.

"Well, if this trip has taught me anything, I definitely have an interesting family. Maybe they're not so horrible after all," Jim replied back.

"Except for Mr. Sam," Sunk said from behind the couple.

"But I now have Marissa, and most importantly I have you." That's when Jim leaned over and started kissing his husband in the middle of everything. Carol just mumbled something about having to put up with this for the next six months. She really was a lot like Bones. Maybe the next six months wouldn't be so horrible after all.

The end

Up next the epilogue.

*This note contains spoilers for Into Darkness.

My theory is that the technology used to bring Jim back from the dead cannot repair brain damage. I also believe that it would probably be too dangerous to unleash on the civilian population. That's why they're not able to help Nyota's father.


	35. Every New Beginning

This is the end. Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also, thank you to everybody who has stuck through this story for the last three years. This is officially my longest Star Trek story at around 200,000 words. We have been through a lot together during the course of this story. You have survived two computer meltdowns and me being hit by a car in the middle of it. I would like to thank everybody who worked as a beta on this story including Teddy Bear and T'Purr who did a lot of it. I would also like to thank everybody who put the story on alert, added to your favorites, bookmark it, or left kudos.

Spoiler alert: This chapter contains some things derived from STID but it's mixed in with other things from my imagination and it should be difficult to tell what is a spoiler. This chapter also contains things derived from the TOS episode "Operation – Annihilation" but twisted to fit the new reality.

Chapter title comes from the song Closing Time by Semisonic

* * *

**Epilogue: Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginnings End.**

Jim wasn't sure what he was expecting for his final mission as a Starfleet captain, but he wasn't expecting it to involve killer parasites that made everyone go crazy, trying to find a way to not kill 1.2 million people, and watching his brother dying. (He would like to blame his brother's totally fucked up behavior at their mother's funeral on the parasites, but considering that most of Earth is still as sane as ever, he doubts his brother was already contaminated. There was nothing to blame for Sam being a prick except for Sam.)

The good news was they were able to save almost everybody on the colony, including his brother's brand new _pregnant _girlfriend (the bastard moved quickly, considering the divorce papers were not even signed yet because Sam had dropped off the radar three months earlier) without his husband doing something fucking reckless, like becoming a Vulcan Guinea pig for the greater good. (You would really think Spock would have gotten over sacrificing himself for the greater good after Jim died during that thing they do not talk about, but that was never going to happen).

Carol had the good sense to contact Other Spock and played the emotion card, although she referred to it as 'consulting with another scientist'. After reminding the old guy that Jim, Nyota, Sunk, and baby Amanda would be absolutely devastated if something happened to Spock, he confirmed their theory about using high intensity light and told them what portion of the spectrum to use to get rid of the killer parasites from outer space. Jim came up with the satellite idea on his own. Of course, it didn't save Sam (or his future niece or nephew because brand new girlfriend miscarried). Maybe he was a little pissed off at Other Spock for not warning him about this, but he had this sick feeling that if it was not killer space parasites that did Sam in, it probably would have been alcohol poisoning (or an STI). At least this type of death wasn't meaningless, or so Carol told him.

He also tried to remind himself that not everything was the same this time around. For example, Spock should have gone into 'fuck or die mode' a few weeks ago, but it hasn't happened yet. Akia and Christine, who are having way too much fun studying this, believe regular sex can delay or lessen Spock's Time. (Jim is just waiting for everything to fall apart because it's his life.) In light of that, he should just give the other Spock some slack, or at least that's what he's been told.

After doing his captain's log where he barely managed to not cry, he took on the very necessary duty of notifying the family. He started with Akia first, even though he felt absolutely horrible about it. Two months ago, Akia's not-a-boyfriend popped the question after having to jump through too many hoops to be JK's emergency contact for preschool. Actually, he said, "If we were married, this would be so much easier."

At the time, Akia did not think he was serious and therefore she responded with a sarcastic, "Give me a big enough ring and I may say yes." That's when the guy pulled out a vintage Tiffany's engagement ring with a rock big enough to be seen from space. Akia still isn't sure why she said yes, but she is happy, even if she was a little stressed out by the upcoming wedding. (Really, they should have known something was up when Sam didn't respond to her e-mail about the engagement.) She should be focusing on choosing flowers for her wedding, not her ex-husband's funeral. This was all his fault.

"I hated him so much in these last few months, with him trying to screw over wife number two during the divorce proceedings, but I didn't want him dead. I didn't even think to question why he stopped contacting us. I was just happy he wasn't bothering us anymore," she said with tears running down her cheek. Jim felt like crying too and in all honesty, the only thing stopping him was the fact that Spock was wrapped around him keeping him grounded in reality.

"I'm sorry, maybe if…" Jim started, but Spock put a finger to his lips.

"It was not your fault," Spock said firmly, keeping his fingers on Jim's lips.

"If Sam had taken Winona's offer for rehab, he would not have been on the colony to get infected. Even Spock's great uncle tried to convince him not to take the job there at the wedding from hell," Akia said, trying to make him feel better, or rather less guilty.

"Sneaky geriatric," Jim mumbled under his breath as Spock said a couple of choice Vulcan curse words in regards to Other Spock's inability to keep that damn promise of his to not interfere. Jim believes it's a universal constant that whenever his life or happiness is in danger, Spock (either one) doesn't really give a fuck about rules or promises.

"Don't keep second guessing yourself. I've lost patience before. You keep going over and over in your head what you could have done differently, but that doesn't change the fact that your patient died. Chances are you made the best decision you could have at the time with the information you had. Write your report and then let it go," Akia said with the wisdom of a woman who has been in this position before.

"I already did that before I decided to break the news to everyone. I still have to call ex-wife number two and the good sibling," he said, using his nicknames for Aurelan and Marisa.

He's gotten close to his unknown sister over the last few months, exchanging lots of e-mails about how to deal with your adopted child who was abused by his birth mother. Jim doesn't think Spock or he could have survive the last six months of parenting the 11-year-old boy without her help. Taking care of Sunk was very different then taking care of Amanda, mostly because his son was afraid that they would just disappear and he would end up back with that evil Vulcan woman that they don't speak about. Sunk practically goes into a panic attack every time he or Spock goes on an away mission. Fortunately, his sister has worked with abused children before and provided him and Spock with a lot of good advice.

His relationship with Aurelan was also improving, now that he doesn't think of her as the evil woman who screwed over his pseudo big sister. Aurelan sent him pictures of his baby niece, and he was helping her start her life over again. She was currently at a biotech firm outside of San Francisco. Jim didn't exactly want to break the news to her that she no longer had to worry about the divorce proceedings because Sam was dead. Jim doubted she would see it as a happy thing, even if it made things simpler. She would probably feel guilty because she did not become worried when Sam stopped contacting her.

"I'll take care of it. I have experience with this. I'll tell the boys as well," Akia offered.

"You don't have to. I should do it," Jim told her, dreading the conversations.

"I'll take care of it. You have captain things to do and I'm sure you need to pack. You are going to be back on Earth in less than a week. Hey, maybe the bad news will send Madison into labor," Akia said, almost hopeful. The girl was already six days late and driving everyone slowly crazy.

"You have a really twisted sense of humor," Jim said, shaking his head.

"I do not find such circumstances humorous," Spock remarked dryly.

"That's because the situation is not humorous," Jim said, giving his pseudo sister an angry look. "Although, just in case Sam's demise can induce labor, don't tell Nyota. Let's be honest, if anybody is going to go into labor, it's going to be her. " Nyota has had a rough pregnancy, despite doing an excellent job during her tenure as interim head of the linguistics department. So much so that the new dean was begging her to stay on.

First, she was cursed with continuous morning sickness throughout the entire pregnancy. She got sick on Dana three more times in the last six months and allegedly she threw up on a student. She also developed gestation diabetes. She also ended up going to the hospital three times, for what were fortunately just Braxton Hicks contractions. One of those times was triggered by her catching her mom holding hands with Spock's dad two months ago. Of course, the fact that the hand- holding happened at Nyota's father's funeral was perhaps the major contributing factor in what happened. They were all currently pretending it was a Vulcan version of a hug for their own personal sanity. Despite Nyota almost going into premature labor at the funeral, it was still better than what happened with his mother.

"I'm right there with you," Akia said with half a smile.

"It's just that her dad died two months ago and everything is so fresh," Jim said, trying to explain his decision.

"Nyota is a much stronger person than you think," Spock reminded him.

"Yes and she almost went into labor 10 weeks early at her dad's funeral," Jim said defensively.

"I guess we should do a memorial service or something like that for Sam. It's more for the living anyway," Akia said, most likely trying to change the subject of conversation. When something like that was the more pleasant alternative, you know things are really bad.

"No fucking way. Mom's funeral was enough to last me for a lifetime," Jim said with a shiver. Funerals are normally traumatic, case in point Nyota nearly going into premature labor at her father's service (okay, it was Braxton Hicks contractions, but still). However, his mother's funeral was its own level of absolute craziness, complete with his husband overdosing on magical mystery hot chocolate and Sam desecrating their mother's body. (Why did the prick have to die before things were better?)

"I don't want a repeat of that. We'll have a nice dinner, with a lot of good wine, and we'll all try to come up good stories about Sam."

**_"The 'lot of good wine' is what I'm worried about,"_** Jim told Spock over their link.

"Do whatever you want, but I won't be there. I don't think it's possible for us to share happy stories about Sam. Although, he did give us enough information to figure out what the hell was going on before Carol decided to cheat - I mean consult a fellow scientist on New Vulcan who had prior experience with what killed Sam," he said, still surprised that she did that, although she did take her job of keeping him and Spock from doing stupid things very seriously. Apparently, she believed that Spock trying to play Super Vulcan as they tried to figure out how not to kill 1.2 million people qualified as doing something stupid.

"Why do I have a feeling this story is too classified for me to know?" Akia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We will be bringing Sam's cremated remains with us when we arrive in 6.4 days." After that classic bit of Spock redirection, the call ended quickly.

Jim was also left to play the 'what if' game as he tried to pack up Sunk's bedroom, while the child was probably in one of the labs driving Spock's staff slightly crazy as they try to wrap up their experiments. The 11-year-old was just getting to the point where he felt comfortable exploring the ship on his own. Jim believed that was progress.

"There is no point in continuing to replay the events of the last few days in your mind. You made the best choice under the circumstances," Spock said as he tried to kiss Jim, but he just pulled away. As happy as he was that Spock was safely with him and not in pain anymore, he just didn't feel like making out. That was never a good sign for him.

"But we didn't Spock. When Sam stopped emailing his lawyer every other day three months ago, we should have known something wasn't quite right. I should have said something to Chris. We should have investigated this weird space insanity thing months ago, then maybe I wouldn't be bringing my brothers ashes back with me," Jim said, collapsing onto his son's bed.

"It is impossible to change the past," Spock said, sitting down beside him.

"Unless red matter is involved," Jim said sardonically, and Spock's response was just to hold him. This time he let it happen. "I'm sorry, it's just that everything is catching up with me. This was my final mission as a captain, and I couldn't even keep my own brother from dying and I couldn't keep you safe. Watching you in pain already had me halfway to being emotionally compromised, even if you tried to act like you were perfectly OK. I'm not sure I would have come up with the right solution if Carol and Chapel hadn't taken over and decided to manipulate Other You into telling us what the fuck to do."

Okay, maybe that wasn't true. Jim had already concluded that it had to be light. Carol's 'shortcut' just saved them the time of having to do a bunch of different experiments to figure out if it would actually work.

"You would have," Spock said, holding him tighter. "You did come up with the idea to use the satellites once my counterpart confirmed that light was necessary to destroy the organism in question."

"Maybe," Jim said quietly.

"You should call Nyota and see if you can speak to Amanda," Spock suggested, knowing that talking to his baby girl always cheered him up. She was currently on a kick to get him to name her new baby brother David, after one of her classmates that actually looked like he could be her half sibling (which added to the overall strangeness of the entire situation in Jim's personal opinion). He has not figured out how to tell her that there was no way in hell any kid of his in this dimension will have that first name. He came to that conclusion after Carol suggested it when she caught him and Spock pouring over baby name books. The universe may have a sick sense of humor, but he doesn't.

"I really don't want to tell our four year old daughter that her uncle died due to killer parasites because daddy was too incompetent to save him," Jim said with a sigh, and Spock just held onto him tighter.

"Then I suggest you stick to conversations about her imaginary friend Mr. Q and her new BFF David," Spock suggested without inflection. He was personally surprised that Spock hasn't mentioned how illogical imaginary friends are again. Of course, said imaginary friend turned up at about the time Nyota's dad died, so Jim saw this as a coping mechanism.

"Did you just say BFF?" Jim said, making his husband's trademark eyebrow raise. "Have you been getting into the chocolate?"

"Maybe," Spock said, entwining their fingers together in a kiss.

"Okay, I will call Amanda to talk about her latest adventures with Mr. Q. Seriously, how did she come up with that name for her imaginary friend?" Jim asked his husband, shaking his head. Amanda's imagination was so weird sometimes.

"I am uncertain." Jim's response was to kiss him. Fortunately, they remembered that they were in their son's room before they did anything really really inappropriate.

* * *

"We're going to have cupcakes for the next month," Nyota said as she glared at the half of a box now sitting on her desk from her baby shower/going away party. Today was her last day of work before she went on forced maternity leave. Akia and her husband wanted her to stop working a month ago, but Nyota did not feel like going stir crazy in the interim. Surprisingly enough she actually liked her job, but that was probably because she could tell herself it was just temporary. She was the hit of the linguistics department, much to her surprise. They even wanted her to stay on permanently. Maybe in another dimension she would be satisfied with a land based assignment with her children and husband, but that's not her. She still craves the thrill of discovering new worlds and languages. She wants to be there on the front lines of discovery. She now knows that someday she will be too old for it, even if Chris and Jim's former step-dad have been doing everything in their power to get rid of the forced retirement age, or at least make it something reasonable. Maybe then, she can think about being head of the linguistics department (because there's no way in hell she will ever be an admiral) and giving her husband his dream assignment of being safely away from the disease infested darkness of space.

She was forced to sit through a baby shower that was held by the husband of Jim's former stepfather (and she was really pissed at Leonard for ditching her at the baby shower. She knows that was not a real emergency). Nyota wondered if Winona asked the man to do this on her deathbed, because he just had too much blackmail material on Jim for it to be a coincidence. The baby pictures were priceless. She received copies of everything, including something highly embarrassing involving Jim and a flagpole.

She also got a giant cupcake cake in the shape of Enterprise that said 'congratulations on becoming a captain.' Of course, she personally feels that Dana not being there was the best present of all. Publicly, the guy was on an extended vacation. According to campus gossip, he was on an extended leave of absence pending an investigation into various allegations of misconduct that range from everything from the misappropriation of funds to misuse of command.

Of course, they ordered way too much food for the party and now everything was in her office. Amanda was currently eating her third cup cake. Her daughter was going to be so sugar stoned that she was half-tempted to send her to her grandfather's for the night. Amanda absolutely hated being away from her two daddies, but she was really glad that she gets to spend quality time with grandpa Sarek and her favorite sort-of-cousins.

Surprisingly enough, Amanda and T'Mandy were no longer fighting all the time. Although that may be because they have teamed up against Baby Sonnick. The two year old did not have a chance against his sister and niece. Nyota has a picture of the two girls dressing the little boy in pretty princess regalia.

It also could have something to do with the fact that the two girls are at the same school and despite their 18 months age difference, they have the same tutor for their enrichment sessions. They are both doing pretty well in 'regular' school, although both she and Sarek believe it helps that they are not the only Vulcan children at the school. Actually, Amanda is not even the only multi-species kid at the school. It was a lot more common now than when Spock was growing up. Amanda managed to make lots of friends at her spoiled rich kid school for gifted kids, including one kid who looks so much like Jim that she would suggest a paternity test if it wasn't for the fact that she knew for sure that the only person Jim was sleeping with at that time was Spock. The fact that his name was David just added to the weirdness of it.

Amanda still missed her daddies and big brother. She was able to call Enterprise at least once a week because the Admiralty love her and have no problem whatsoever with her making very expensive calls to her two dads. Three days ago, they spent the entire call talking about Amanda's imaginary friend Mr. Q and how according to him, she's supposed to have a brother named David. Nyota believed that the four year old has had too many conversations with her Uncle Other Spock (yes, Amanda actually called him that) when the Vulcan was under the influence of something chocolate. (Nyota did not mention anything about Sam because she's not supposed to know, even though Carol told her everything in an e-mail and there's not much Leonard will not tell her.)

Despite her daughter missing her two dads very much, Nyota has enjoyed this mother/daughter time. She has enjoyed this time of just being a family with her, Amanda, and Leonard. Of course, she didn't enjoy it when Amanda was trying to eat cupcake number four. Her back hurt too much for her to be dealing with this today.

"No more sugar for you," she said, pulling the cupcake out of her hand and placing it back with the others on the desk.

"But Mr. Q says that cupcakes cannot last a month, so that means I need to eat them all now." Nyota just rolled her eyes. For the last two months, Amanda has been using her friend to justify a lot of things, including flooding the bathroom. Really, she was too pregnant to deal with this sort of thing.

"Yes, but Mr. Q is not real," she said for the 20th time.

"Yes, he is," Amanda argued back, giving her the Jim Kirk puppy dog eyes.

"There's no point in arguing that," she heard a voice that she hasn't heard in person in six months say from behind her as he grabbed one of the Enterprise cupcakes. Of course, Jim was back early. Then she heard Amanda screaming 'Daddy!' as she ran to Jim, causing him to drop his cupcake. Unfortunately, it fell on Amanda, and now she was covered in blue butter cream cupcake.

"I missed you too baby. Although, I think I'll hug you after you're no longer covered in cupcake," Jim said, right before he and Spock started to argue about who had cleanup duty. She's pretty sure Spock only agreed to do it because Jim promised a blow job without words. She knows from personal experience you can pretty much get Spock to agree to anything if you promise oral sex.

"What are you doing here?" Nyota asked, hugging him. It was a little difficult with her big baby belly. Actually, it was a little difficult because all Jim wanted to do was pat her baby belly. Although, Jim actually had a right to do so, unlike everyone else who keeps patting her stomach, but it's still a little annoying.

"I came by to turn over the keys to the ship and say hello to the little ones. Daddy missed you guys so much," Jim said jokingly as he actually started kissing her stomach.

"I meant why are you here three days early. We had a party planned," Nyota said in slight annoyance.

"That wasn't going to be a party, that was Sam's sort of wake. That's not going to happen. The next funeral I will attend will be my own. You already know about that?" Jim asked. "No one was supposed to tell you."

"Carol tells me everything, especially when it involves you being stupid. It's how we're building our future captain and first officer bond," she told him with sarcasm.

"Since we surprised you, she must not tell you everything. Scotty may have done something that may or may not have been legal and we got here three days early. It's okay because I needed to testify in person against that admiral that shall not be named. That's why I didn't get here in time for the baby shower. Sorry," Jim said apologetically as he kept a hand protectively on her stomach.

"I thought that was our nickname for Carol's father," she said, referring to the man that tried to kill all of them.

"Admiral Chicken Dick has done something so bad that he gets that name now," Jim remarked, grabbing another one of the cupcakes.

"Unless he used Enterprise to start a war, I don't think anybody can outdo Carol's father," Nyota mumbled under her breath. Jim's response was to frown.

"What did he do?" she prompted.

"You remember that mission about a year ago where you had to get Spock and me out of jail?" Jim asked.

"You need to be more specific. I had to save you and Spock more times than I care to remember." Poor Carol has had a really interesting six months." According to Carol's emails, she has had to rescue the guys at least twice (all while unsuccessfully trying to convince Christine not to hate Nyota anymore).

"We have not been that bad," Jim said defensively. Nyota's response was to just glare at him.

"I'm talking about the incident where we got thrown into jail for inappropriate touching on the planet of the homophobic," Jim said, just as her back started to hurt again. She blamed it on having to stand too much during the baby shower that her husband refused to go to. Her back had been hurting all day.

"The truth is we may have ended up dead if it wasn't for your quick thinking. Apparently, that was what Dana was hoping for," Jim stated before explaining everything to her. The scary thing was, according to what the investigation uncovered, that was only one of six attempts to get Spock killed. Jim was not even his actual target, but rather collateral damage. Spock was the one he blamed for his son's death.

"Fuck," was the only thing she said, and that was partially because of the sharp pain in her back.

"Are you okay?" Jim asked as he started rubbing her back. Again, it didn't help.

"I'm fine. It was a long day involving weird 21st century baby shower games and lots of cupcakes. We played pin the diaper on the admiral," Nyota said as she walked over to her nice couch.

"I don't want to know," Jim said with a fake shiver.

"Did they grill you about what happened on the Deneva colony?" Nyota asked, because she knew Jim was going to avoid this for as long as he could. That was what he did.

"Surprisingly enough, no. They usually don't question how emotionally compromised you were when your husband was under attack from killer parasites and you watched your brother die in front of you when you successfully keep 1.2 million people from dying and prevent an outbreak of killer parasites from taking over," Jim said with a sigh.

"You're upset because Spock got hurt and you couldn't save Sam," Nyota said, knowing him too well.

"Does it make me a horrible person that I was more worried about Spock then my dead brother?" Jim asked her in all honesty.

"No, it doesn't," she told him, squeezing his hand.

"I think I'm getting out right on time. Carol saved the day more than I did." She could literally hear defeat and exhaustion in his voice.

"She said it was a team effort. Besides, you have trained both of us well. We are now masters at the Jim Kirk 'take a third option' style of being a good captain. Jim, there is a reason why other captains are poaching your staff. You saved over one million people with your satellite idea. You're good."

"Carol told you that?"

"She tells me all the best stuff," Nyota told Jim with half a smile.

"Did she also tell you I'm miserable because I didn't save Sam?" Jim asked.

"Actually, that was Spock. We e-mail each other a lot. He thinks that you're really upset because you and Sam left everything in such a bad place."

"Pretty much. I really tried and now I'm going to remember my final mission as a captain for the one person I couldn't save and the relationship I could not fix," Jim said morosely.

"You can't save someone that doesn't want to be saved. This was just one mission where you still managed to save over a million people. You had an amazing nine years and maybe this won't be your final adventure. If I screw up bad enough, they may just give you the keys back," she said, purposely not mentioning Pike's name. She didn't want to mention anything that reminded either of them of that which they do not speak of.

"That's not going to happen. First, I trained you well. Second, you are good at learning from others' mistakes, mostly mine. Remember, getting caught violating the Prime Directive is bad." She just rolled her eyes at his wording, even if the pain was starting to get worse and happening more often. "Also, I'm pretty sure you will not have any exes on board who will sell you out to the Admiralty for revenge purposes."

"Probably… FUCK!" she hissed out in pain.

"What's wrong? Did you just have a contraction?" Jim asked, slightly panicking just as Spock walked back into the room with a now clean Amanda. She was also literally bouncing. Really, she should have never given her cupcakes.

"I'm fine," she said, moving around on the couch, but it really didn't help the pain go away. Nothing helped the pain go away.

"The term 'fine' has various levels of meaning. Considering that your amniotic membrane just ruptured, I doubt that you are 'fine' under any definition of the term." That was when she looked down the see that she was now very wet.

"Couldn't you just say that her water broke?" Jim asked as he grabbed his communicator to call Akia and possibly her husband.

"I do not understand the meaning of that statement."

* * *

Because he had the highest pain tolerance, it was decided that Spock would hold Nyota's hand during labor. Considering that he felt all of her emotions and she managed to actually break a finger, Spock wondered if this was the best course. During the 14.3 hours of labor, Nyota has threatened him, James and Dr. McCoy with castration 35 times. On 14 occasions, she mentioned that having a caesarean was easier even if you go into early labor due to an incident with Klingons (that they also do not discuss).

Her labor was made more difficult by the fact that Akia was unable to deliver the twins because Madison went into labor 3 hours before Nyota did. They were still waiting on word regarding the birth of Jim's first great niece. Because of this, Nyota's local gynecologist was performing the delivery as Dr. Mccoy critiqued everything that the woman did. At least three times during labor, Dr. Williams mumbled that doctors make the worst patients. That resulted in Dr. McCoy being kicked out of the room until it was time to cut the umbilical cord of the first baby. (James was removed from the delivery room early on for trying to text message sister-in-law during the delivery process.)

At 6:42 AM planet time, Aimee Winona Uhura-Kirk was born at a weight of 3.1 kilograms and with what Dr. McCoy of referred to as "the cutest little Vulcan ears ever" (Carol successfully convinced him that the child did not need his last name as well, especially in light of the fact that he already had Amanda as his heir). He never felt more relief in his life when he heard her scream for the first time. 10 minutes later, his son was born at 3.3 kilograms. He really did look like a mixture of the three of them with Nyota's eyes, Jim's nose, and Spock's ears.

Up until today, Spock could count on one hand the times that he has cried in his life. The first time happened when he was a very young child. The second time was related to his mother's death and happened in a very private location. The third time involved James death. The fourth time was at their wedding. The last time was when he held Amanda for the first time after nearly losing her. When he held his son and daughter in his arms, he cried once more.

"Babies make everybody emotional," James said as Spock walked out to him holding a child in each arm. He quickly kissed Spock on the cheek before grabbing their son.

"They're so adorable, you can't help but cry. Aimee is even doing that adorable nose scrunch thing that Nyota does when she's sleepy. Actually, her big brother is doing it too," James said as he became instantly enthralled by both babies.

"Technically Aimee was born first," Spock corrected.

"I guess that means our little boy and me get to be the babies of the family together. We need a name badly, baby boy Uhura-Kirk is going to lose its appeal after a while," James said thoughtfully after a moment.

After several months of deliberation, they had not been able to come up with a boy's name. They were able to decide that the names David, Leonard, George, or Sam were not to be used along with any name that resembled traditional Vulcan names. Of course Spock wondered, in light of what had happened recently, if James would be willing to take one of those names off the list.

"In light of recent events, if you would like to reverse your stance regarding the name Samuel or Sam, I would be willing to allow our son to be named that," he told James matter of factly.

"No, besides Landon is already doing that. Samantha Damien Kirk was born at 4:53 this morning, which means she has to share her birthday with her Cousins." Spock was slightly surprised by Landon's choice, but Spock knew that he loved his father despite their problematic relationship. (He also knew that Landon had great affection for his step- grandfather.)

"What about James?" Spock suggested, because he wanted their son to carry on his love's name.

"I don't want to name our son after me. Does the world really need a Jim junior?" James asked flippantly.

"That's a valid argument. I'm not always that happy about the original," Dr. McCoy said, walking out of the delivery room. "Nyota wants her babies back in there. The evil gynecologist said you could come back in."

"Thanks ever so much," Jim said sarcastically as they walked back into the delivery room. Spock handed Aimee back to an exhausted Nyota a few moments later.

"Have you decided on a name yet for our baby boy?" Nyota asked with a yawn.

"We've added James to the names that we're not using," Jim said sarcastically.

"We could use it as a middle name. He is my son too and I would like to name him after the person I love the most," Spock said forcefully.

"Okay, for saying that you get a blow job later," James said, giving Spock a quick kiss on the lips.

"Not in front of the babies," Nyota hissed.

"Sorry," James said sheepishly. "I just want our child's name to mean something. I'm willing to go with James as a middle name."

"We should name him after your father," Nyota suggested with another yawn.

"I believe I told you about three months ago that I refused to name my child after a man who cheated on my mother, despite the fact that he saved my life. Your father would be a better option. Spock's father would be a better option." That last part was mumbled under Jim's breath.

"As much as my father would find such a gesture pleasurable, I do not wish to name a child after my father," Spock said swiftly.

"My father made me promise that none of my children would be named after him. Besides, I wasn't talking about George Kirk, I was talking about your real father figure, Admiral Pike. He has always been there for you no matter what. Then there is the fact that him almost dying lead to you doing something utterly stupid," Nyota said with some irritation.

"Don't forget all the shit that you put him through over the last 12 years. The man saved your career more times than I care to remember. The man even got your ass out of jail more than once. If anyone deserves to have your first born son named after him, it is Christopher Pike," Leonard added.

"What do you think?" Jim said, turning to Spock.

"Christopher James is a suitable name for our child, especially because I know that you will refer to him by some ridiculous nickname." Spock was sure his husband will be referring to their son by C.J. or Chris by the end of the week.

"Okay, show of hands?" James said after a second.

"You're actually going to have this vote on this? I'm too tired for you to be weird," Nyota said, actually yawning.

The vote was unanimous for Christopher James. Admiral Pike was deeply touched by the gesture and actually cried. Sarek was only marginally upset that they chose to not use traditional Vulcan names, although he understood that they wanted to honor Jim's mother and the man James saw as a father. Of course, he was quickly distracted by Amanda and T'Mandy getting in a fight over who would hold the babies first.

When the twins arrived home the next day, Spock was very thankful that he needed less sleep. Nyota and Leonard were staying in the guest house on the properties so they could be close to the twins. However, he and James felt it was best to let her sleep after 14.3 hours of labor. When the twins started crying, James went to the nursery and Spock went to the kitchen to prepare bottles because he knew both children would be hungry. Unlike Amanda, neither child was allergic to synthetic formula, so they were using it to supplement the breast milk. Spock arrived in the nursery to see James talking to Christopher. Surprisingly, Aimee was still asleep despite her brother's crying. Although, Spock is sure that will not last very long.

"Your daddy Spock should be back soon with your bottle, although I'm not sure if he's bringing the good stuff. We will have to visit your mommy Nyota in the morning. When you get older, we are going to have so much fun explaining how you have two dads and a mommy Nyota along with a bonus step dad. Let's just say it involved a diplomatic gift and the fact that for some reason, everybody just assumed that Mommy and Daddy were both having sex with Daddy Spock, which was a little truer than we would like to admit."

"Do not say things of such a vulgar nature to our son," Spock said as he gave James one of the bottles. Of course, at that moment Aimee started to cry. Spock quickly picked up the screaming child. Through their parental link, he could tell that she was hungry and wanted her diaper changed. He quickly brought her over to the changing table.

"I think it's best that they both get used to our weird family. It will prevent all the strange questions that we're getting from Amanda and Sunk now," James said as he handed Spock a diaper.

"Our family is not weird; it just does not meet the traditional definition of family," Spock said as he unbuttoned their daughter's undershirt.

"I'm cool with that," Jim said as he gave Spock a quick kiss. Spock wholeheartedly agreed with his husband.

The end (or maybe it is just another beginning).

* * *

Again, thank you to everybody who has stuck with this story for the last three years.

Originally, I was going to end this story with Nyota taking over Enterprise, but because I decided to do a follow-up story with these character's I decided that was no longer necessary.

The working title for the follow-up story is _Reflections_.

Summary (will contain spoilers for STID): Jim assumed that his luck finally ran out with his latest attempt to keep his crew from dying. Therefore, Jim is completely shocked that he is waking up at all. He's even more shocked that he's waking up nearly nine years in the future in a slightly alternate reality where the only thing that does not surprise Jim is that he is married to Spock. The fact that he doesn't find that surprising has him worried the most.

Summary two: It turns out Amanda Kirk's imaginary friend is not so imaginary after all and he decided to completely fuck with everyone's life by playing trans-dimensional matchmaker. Admiral Kirk has no choice but to convince his younger alternate self that not only can he do monogamy, but that he is already in love with his first officer and needs to fight for him (or at least convince his Nyota that polyandry is a good thing).

There's also another possibility of a short story between this and my post STID crossover. I'm interested in doing Spock's first adult Pon Far in this universe as a separate story which will take place about six weeks after the end of this story. Let's just say the trio finds out the hard way why Spock's first adult Time was delayed because, as the saying goes, 'no good deed goes unpunished'.

However, we all know I don't like writing explicit material. Every time I try to write something extremely dirty, I get too uncomfortable to continue. I blame it on the fact that I have to talk dirty to my computer to write something explicit and it just feels wrong. I am willing to give it a try if I can find someone who is willing to help write the more explicit stuff. Please let me know if anybody is willing to collaborate.

In the meantime, I'm working on _Take a Third Option_ and _The Truth About Love_ (I'm not getting a lot of reviews for this story so I would really like to know if anybody's actually interested.) Also, look for the sequel to Dear Spock/Beautiful tentatively titled_ Dear James/Fucking Perfect_ in July (maybe sooner, if I get encouragement).


End file.
